MIS 2 - Assignment 4

I will discuss the following thoughts and steps with the university president in order to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan of the university.

While the making of strategic choices is often portrayed as the end of a planning process, it is well recognized that in modern organizations, the choices made in any planning process may not be enacted. There are many reasons for such strategy implementation failures, ranging from a lack of understanding as to who is responsible for implementation to reluctance on the part of lower level managers to truly accept the choices made in the SPIS process, perhaps because they disagree with or do not fully understand them.

To avoid these strategic implementation failures, clear implementation plans must be developed. These plans should indicate who is responsible for the implementation of each element of the plan; they should identify specific “milestones” and schedules for the reporting of results to those who are responsible and to top management, and they should specify clear performance goals for each milestone. Such implementation plans cannot be prepared until the desired changes in the major strategic
IS/IT elements have been approved by top management, but they should be developed immediately thereafter and their development should be considered an integral part of the SPIS process.

The steps in order to expedite the implementation of the IS Plan:

1. Strategy Implementation Step – Budgets are also the “real world” of implementing IT strategy, linking the long-term goals of the organization and their short-term execution through the allocationof resources to activities. Unfortunately, research shows that the majority of organizations do not link their strategies to their budgets, which is why so many have difficulty making strategic changes . This is particularly true in IT, according to the focus group. As one manager complained, “no one knows what we’re doing in the future. Therefore, our goals change regularly and at random.” Another noted, “The lines of business pay little attention to IT resources when they’re establishing their strategic plans. They just expect IT to make it happen.” Budgets can affect IT strategy implementation in a number of ways. First, where IT dollars are spent determines the impact IT can have on corporate performance. Clearly, if 80 percent of IT expenditures is going to operations and maintenance, IT can have less strategic impact than if this proportion is 20 percent lower. Second, how discretionary IT dollars are spent is important. For example, some companies decide to invest in infrastructure while others do not; some will choose to “bet the company” on a single large IT initiative while others will choose more focused projects. In short, the outcome of how a company chooses between investment opportunities is reflected in its budgets.

Third, the budgeting process itself reflects and reinforces the ability of strategic decision making to have an impact. IT expert states that because budget processes are inherently biased toward the short term, in many organizations operational needs will systematically preempt strategic ones. In IT, the common practice of routinely allocating a fixed percentage of the IT strategic budget to individual business units, makes it almost impossible to easily reallocate resources to higher priority projects at the enterprise level or in other business units. In addition, several focus group members noted that their siloed budgeting processes make it difficult to manage the cross-business costs of strategic IT decisions. Overall, budgets are a critical element of most managerial decisions and processes and are used to accomplish a number of different purposes in IT: compliance, fiscal accountability, cost reduction, business unit and enterprise strategy implementation, internal customer service, delivery of business value, and operational excellence, to name just a few. This, in a nutshell, is the reason why IT budgeting is such a complex and challenging process.

According to some IT experts one of the major causes of SISP failure is the lack of understanding and emphasis on implementation issues. Plans are likely to remain and gather dust on the shelf unless there is an effective implementation strategy. In order to address this problem IT experts have come up with a “comprehensive and parsimonious set of factors or practices that predict implementation” and suggest that they “may help planners and researchers better understand implementation.” It is highly desirable for the plan to be read by all key stakeholders. The skill set of employees should also come under scrutiny. Implementation can fail if the organization lacks employees with the appropriate expertise. Plans must proactively be put into practice under the supervision of a project champion and any problems at the implementation stage must be sorted out to derive maximum benefit from the plans. As IT experts point out: “too often organizations fail to implement the recommendations from a SISP study.” An implementation strategy should therefore form an integral part of any strategic planning process.


2. Exploration Strategy Step - While exploitation strategy takes a structured, analytical, evaluative, and methodical approach to IS development, the nature of the beast is quite different in exploration strategy, which is about identifying opportunities for the innovative use of IT. While structured approaches can give some signposting for the innovative use of IT, they alone are not sufficient to nurture the creative talents of individuals within the organization. Exploration strategy specifically seeks to encourage and promote innovation and creativity and thereby achieve competitive or strategic advantage for the business. This will involve the use of unconventional approaches such as tinkering and improvisation to unleash the creative potential of bright sparks and visionaries in the organization. Individuals and/or teams might come up with fresh ideas and the feasibility of these ideas has to be tested by creating a prototype. Such experimentation/exploration must be encouraged, despite the possibility of its becoming costly, and may, in the majority of cases, need to be abandoned after the initial feasibility study. This should not involve harsh criticism or loss of face of individuals/ teams. Impact methodologies are part and parcel of any exploration strategy.

In summary, then, exploitation strategies, which take a methodical approach, are concerned with improving operational efficiency whereas exploration strategies, which make use of experimentation and prototyping, are meant to provide competitive/strategic advantage for the business. Both of these strategies are essential for a balanced SISP process. A great deal of work has also been done in the past couple of decades to understand the success factors of many of the strategic planning efforts. These include: organizational issues, resource issues, effectiveness of the planning methods used and the actual relevance of the plan, and, more importantly problems associated with implementing the plans themselves. Many researchers have also argued for an ongoing process of evaluation and review and the consideration of implementation as a critical issue. These calls are not always heeded and the reality is that, many IS planning decisions/documents, rather than being proactively implemented, are left to gather dust on the shelf or in many instances implemented only partially.

Another fundamental problem is that many still question the value of conducting strategic planning. For them, strategic planning is inappropriate/ineffective for responding to the modern fast-changing business world because, by the time plans are developed and implemented, business requirements will have changed (and/or technology moved on), rendering the plans obsolete. As IT expert has observed, many CIOs “have apparently responded to the forces of chaos by throwing in the towel on strategic planning.” His view resonates with that of IT experts, who point out that a lot of (Western) companies have abandoned the idea of a long-term IS planning process altogether. Also a more recent survey in the United States has shown that 39 percent of the respondents had no formal IT strategy at all. Some would go even further to suggest that the emergence of the Internet marks the death knell for strategies and strategic plans. Porter disagrees strongly: “In our quest to see how the Internet is different, we have failed to see how the Internet is the same. While a new means of conducting business has become available, the fundamentals of competition remain unchanged. The next stage of the Internet’s evolution will involve a shift in thinking from e-business to business, from e-strategy to strategy. Only by integrating the Internet into overall strategy will this powerful new technology become an equally powerful force for competitive advantage”.

IT expert sides with other and points out that the difficulty in sustaining a competitive position, because of the speed of imitation by rivals, actually strengthens rather than weakens the need for strategic planning. “As buyers become more powerful and business processes and systems more homogeneous, only the strategically astute companies will be able to rise above the competitive free-for-all.” He cites the success of Dell and Wal-Mart, which, despite the acquisition of sophisticated IT systems by competitors, are able to maintain their competitive position primarily through astute business and IT plans and strategies. IT expert believes that such chaotic times “make it more necessary than ever for the CIO to routinely take a strategic view.” IT expert agrees with another: “Strategic planning is more important today than ever before, and it is the very speed of change in today’s business climate which makes it so.” The case for conducting strategic planning is therefore well argued. The unanswered question, however, is: how should organizations go about conducting successful strategic planning? In this chapter we attempt to identify several dos and don’ts for success. More specifically, eight principles for successful strategic planning are identified from the prior literature, and case examples from organizations of contrasting size and structure that report effective IS planning efforts are described. This chapter also emphasizes the need for planning to be an ongoing activity and that IT systems that are planned and developed must be continuously repositioned and enhanced to enjoy long-term sustainable advantage. In the light of these principles is also carried out to determine whether they are valid in the real world of business.

Technical IT Skills/Application Development/Implementation Methodology Step - Technical IT skills are the skills needed to develop IT applications. Technical IT skills include analysis, design, and programming skills, understanding of operating systems, and experience with databases and networking protocols. While these skills can be very valuable, since they are widely available to firms—through hiring employees or consultants with these skills—they are usually not rare or costly to imitate, and thus, by themselves, they are not likely to be sources of distinctive advantages. However, if a firm’s programmers and analysts develop a specialized understanding of the firm’s processes and strategies and are able to conceive unique applications to improve customer service, then such an understanding of a firm’s processes and strategies can be a source of competitive advantage. In contrast to technical skills, application development methodology refers to the higher order (managerial) processes involved in collecting requirements and organizing the development and implementation of IT applications. Carnegie Mellon University’s capability maturity model (CMM) is an example of software development methodology. CMM refers to the structured approach to developing and implementing software applications. However, while it is clear that the requirements of each CMM level are well documented, few organizations have achieved the highest level (CMM level 5) of certification. As higher levels of CMM have been associated with more reliable/predictable, higher quality, and lower cost/cycle time of development firms at higher CMM levels have a competitive advantage in developing and implementing IT applications. Similarly, implementing large IT applications has proved to be a significant challenge. Since large IT applications are more about managing organizational change than about implementing software applications, this is not surprising. Thus, if a firm has figured out the social aspects of implementing IT projects, that firm can achieve a competitive advantage with application development/implementation methodology.


3. IT Platform Step - The IT platform is the set of shared capital resources that provides the foundation on which specific IT applications are built. The primary components of the IT platform are: (1) the computing platform (hardware and operating systems), and (2) the communications network. The characteristic of the IT platform makes the speed of implementation, cost, and value of new IT applications different for different firms. This characteristic is described as “flexibility.” A flexible IT platform allows for more rapid response to emerging business needs, whereas an inflexible IT platform gets in the way of some important initiatives, limiting the freedom of the company to respond to market forces and innovate. On the other hand, less flexible platforms may allow the efficient execution of a narrow and unchanging set of IT applications in a firm. The flexibility of the IT platform is manifested in the degree to which a firm’s data and applications can be shared and accessed throughout the organization. Such flexibility enables an organization to rapidly build and implement IT applications to respond to emerging market needs. A firm’s IT platform is also flexible to the extent that the firm adopts and enforces standards for the components of its IT platform to ensure connectivity and compatibility of its technology platform and share ability of its data and applications.

A flexible IT platform is a complex set of technological resources carefully planned for and developed over time. Because of its path-dependent nature, there can be significant differences across firms in how infrastructure is constituted. Moreover, these differences can be long lasting, since disassembling one platform and erecting a new one can be both costly and time consuming. To the extent that the flexibility of the IT platform varies across firms in an industry, and to the extent that a flexible IT platform enables firms to implement IT applications to support specific processes more efficiently and effectively, the variance in platform flexibility can explain differences in customer service across firms. To the extent that one firm can implement an IT-based strategy that its competitors cannot imitate because of an inflexible IT platform, a flexible IT platform is a strategic resource that can be a source of competitive advantage. A flexible IT platform is an investment for the future that enables the organization to respond quickly to the market. Therefore, though a flexible IT platform may improve the responsiveness of the IT organization, a flexible IT platform may not have any impact on the current level of performance. By investing in a standard platform that ensures compatibility/connectivity and facilitates the shareability of data across systems and units, an organization sets itself to respond quickly to market demands. Thus, though a flexible IT platform may not improve current performance, it may be necessary for the long-term competitiveness of the organization. Also, the more dynamic a firm’s environment, the more valuable a flexible IT platform can be to its long-term survival and growth. The IT platform is thus an enabler (of IT applications), just as highways are enablers of commerce. The IT platform by itself may not provide a competitive advantage, just as highways on their own do not lead to economic growth, but they provide the backbone for commerce that allows economic growth to take place.

A flexible IT platform is more valuable when the firm’s environment is dynamic, that is, when the firm actually requires flexibility to respond to changing customer requirements and different and unpredictable competitive moves. In very stable and mature industries where customer needs and competitors’ strategies are quite predictable, flexibility may not be very valuable. Investing in a flexible IT platform in such environments may actually hurt economic performance as it will increase the firm’s cost of IT operations without any commensurate benefits from the flexibility of its IT platform.


The degree of the relevant stakeholders’ support for higher payoffs from an IT investment is an issue of IS implementation plan. Different stakeholders create different kinds of uncertainties and risks. For example, in procurement-related settings, the success of an IT implementation is often based on what IT experts have called the “missing link”: the degree of actual usage by stakeholders involved with the deployed systems. Similar arguments apply regarding usage of systems that support trade services in international banking, where systems integration capabilities make it possible to achieve highly productive transactional support for trade services and the related banking business partners. The stakeholders can be of numerous kinds, including external stakeholders such as buyers and suppliers, and other industry and technology partners. They also can include internal business partners such as financial and accounting managers, or product design and development, and manufacturing operations staff members. In all of these cases, IT implementations are subject to a variety of relational risks that come up in principal–agent relationships.

Reference:
Information System Planning
Copyright 2005
by: William R. King

MIS 2 - Assignment 3

Based on our interview with the MIS Manager of SAMULCO, the two most frequently experienced causes of frustration of IS professionals and users while working on an IS plan are Resitance to Change and Budget and Financial Constraints.

Resistance To Change


Definition

Resistance to change is the action taken by individuals and groups when they perceive that a change that is occurring as a threat to them.
Key words here are 'perceive' and 'threat'. The threat need not be real or large for resistance to occur.
In its usual description it refers to change within organizations, although it also is found elsewhere in other forms. Resistance is the equivalent of objections in sales and disagreement in general discussions.
Resistance may take many forms, including active or passive, overt or covert, individual or organized, aggressive or timid.


Rationale for resistance

The rationale for resistance is often quite straightforward as people justify their actions to themselves. If you want to overcome resistance to change, you must be able to answer the following points.

Person wants to stay where he is because…
Even if you offer me a bowl of cherries, he may not be very concerned to take what you proffer if he is happy where he is now. People who have been in the same place for a long time are usually in this state. They do not need to change and will view any suggestion of change with distaste.

…His needs are already met here
Needs are basic drivers of action. If needs are not perceived as being particularly threatened and the current situation is relatively comfortable (particularly in comparison with the proposed change) then he will be happier to stay where he am. If people already have their needs met, then you will need to shake the carpet and provide some sort of threat to those needs so they are no longer sufficiently met for the person to want to stay where they are.

…I have invested heavily here
When I have invested a lot of time and energy in building up my position, both socially and organizationally, then any change may mean bad news. Social investment creates a person's sense of identity. Organizational investment gives them control. Sliding down the ladder that I have so painstakingly climbed over the year is a long way from my shopping list. Where people have invested heavily, you will either have to show them how to get to a similar position in the new organization or otherwise reduce the value of their investment (for example by moving the people over whom they have social influence).

...I am in the middle of something important
When I have committed to achieving a goal, either personal or emotional, then a part of my integrity and hence identity may be bound up in achieving the goal. When I have partly completed something, I am also affected by the need for completion, such that I will feel uncomfortable with stopping now. When people are busy, find ways for them to complete the work in the shorter term, perhaps by nudging their goals so they have less to do to complete. If possible, turn their work towards something that will be useful for the new organization.

I do not want to change because…
Even if I am not that happy where I am, I still may not be particularly interested in moving forward with the change.

…the destination looks worse than where I am now
Although I want to move, the final resting place of the change looks significantly worse for me than the current position. I feel it is like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. If you want people to voluntarily move, then it must be to somewhere better than they are now. You can create this in two ways: first by making the present position worse (though be careful with this!) and secondly by building a rosy vision to which people can then attach their dreams.

…there is nothing to attract me forwards
If the change is nothing to do with me, if the benefits are all for other people or the general organization, if I just do not buy the 'vision' as sold, then I will feel no pull and I will not buy into the change.You may offer forth a brilliant vision, but do the people buy it? Make sure your communications are clear and couched in terms that people can understand and buy into. Make your visions inclusive, such that people really can and will buy the change.

…I do not know which way to move
If I buy the vision, I may still may not know which way to jump. Some change projects sound wonderful, but people are left wondering what to do (even the managers).Grand plans need to be turned into tactical detail in which people can see and easily take the step forward.

…the journey there looks painful
The final destination may be great, but the journey from here to there looks very uncomfortable. The anticipated pain of the transition is more immediate than the distant and hazy future, and I respond more to this than to any inspiring vision. Make sure the transitional period between now and the final change does not appear so uncomfortable that people refuse to join you. In practice, it may not be that bad -- what counts, though, is the perception of the people, so design the transition well and then communicate it well.

...the destination or journey is somehow bad or wrong
If the transition or the final destination somehow transgresses my values, then I will judge it to be bad or wrong and will be very loathe to join the party.Be careful with the change in working around established organizational and general social values. If you must break an unwritten rule (such as getting rid of people) then do so with appropriate consideration and care.

…I do not trust those who are asking me to change
If my experience of you is that you have been untrustworthy in the past, then I am not likely to buy your vision of the future. If you are going on what I perceive as a perilous journey, then I will not trust you and will not join you. The integrity of leaders is a very important attribute. If you want people to follow you, then you must give them good reason to trust you.

I am not going to change because…
Even if people do not want to change, they may still have to do so, albeit truculently. Some people, how ever, have the wherewithal to refuse.

…I am able to ignore the change
One of the questions I will ask is 'What happens if I do not go along with the change?' If the negative implications for my non-compliance are negligible, then I can happily not join in. This sort of situation occurs when the person in question is so valued by the organization that the idea of them leaving is unthinkable. This is often where difficult choices around change take place. What do you do with the laggards? If this problem is not addressed, then the people around them may take their lead and before long you have a silent revolution on your hands.

…I have the power to obstruct the change
Another reason why a person can happily ignore the change is because they can stop it. People in senior positions often treat change as being a good thing -- as long as it is for someone else. When faced with change themselves, they may do whatever it takes to scupper the change, for example by refusing to give needed access or other support. This is a good test of the senior sponsor of change -- which may need to be the most senior officer in the organization. Those who actively oppose the change must be dealt with -- preferably kindly and in in an understanding way, but ultimately in a firm and final way.


The nature of opposition
When considering stakeholders who are opposing the change, do a deep analysis of their personality to give you better ability to manage their opposition and convert them to the cause of the change. This analysis should help you to decide whether and how you might convert the person to the change cause or, if they are implacable opponents, how you might control or contain their opposition.

Drivers

Beliefs
Beliefs are basic drivers of thought and behavior. If you can understand their beliefs, you can begin to change them.
• What are their beliefs about people? Their rights? Their capabilities?
• What beliefs do they have about themselves?
• How strongly do they hold these beliefs?
• What are the beliefs that they have that led them to oppose the change?
• What beliefs do they have that could be used to help convert them?

Values
Values are guides and shapers of behavior that tell what is right and wrong, good and bad, important and unimportant. Understanding a person's values tells you what they will not do as much as what they will do.
• Are any of their values being transgressed by change actions?
• What are their stress values? Are these being triggered?
• What values can you appeal to, to persuade them to change?

Goals
Goals are the deliberate objectives that we set ourselves to satisfy values and needs. By identifying these and how they are affected by change, you can
• What are their career goals?
• What are their social goals?
• What other goals do they have?
• How are any of these affected by the change?

Perceptions
The perceptions that people have of the change is based on their internal systems and the inferences they make. Perception is reality for the person, even it if is not really true. It therefore makes sense to understand how they perceive the change.
• What are their perceptions of the change? What do they think will happen?
• What are their perceptions of other stakeholders in the change? Do they think others will help them? Do they think others will gain unfair advantage?
• What are their perceptions of those implementing the change? Do they think the change agents will be fair? Do they think they are competent?

Potential
A critical question about opponents of change is what they can and are likely do to oppose the change.
• What power do they have?
• What is the source of that power? (position, expertise, social, etc.)
• How might they use that power? (blocking, persuading others, etc.)
• What would the impact of that action be? (local, widespread, etc.)
• How might their power change?

Triggers
And when you understand the power that a person who is opposing or may oppose the change, the final step is to understand their triggers, those events that would tip them into action.
• What would lead them to use that power? (events, actions, etc.)
• What would defuse them beforehand? (involvement, listening, etc.)
• What would bring them down after they had started resisting? (listening, threats, etc.)
• Who do they listen to? (friends, social leaders, senior people, etc.)
• What could other people do to contain or convert them? (words, action, etc.)

When resistance to change occurs, then it is very helpful to be able to spot it coming and hence respond appropriately to it (rather than be surprised when the change mysteriously fails).

Signs of resistance

Early signs of resistance
If you can catch resistance early, then you can respond to it before it takes hold, effectively nipping it in the bud.

Gossip
When the change is announced, the tom-toms will start beating loudly and grapevine will bear fruit of much and varied opinion. Keep your ear to the ground on what is being said around the coffee points. Listen particularly for declaration of intent and attempts to organize resistance. Grumbling and complaint are natural ways of airing discomfort, so you should not try to squash it (you would fail, anyway). The biggest danger of it is when it is allowed to ferment in an information vacuum.
Respond to gossip by opening it up, showing you are listening to concerns and taking them seriously, and providing lots of valid information that will fill the vacuum.

Testing
Just as a high school class will test a teacher's ability to maintain discipline, so also will some brave soul test out what happens when they resist change. They may, for example, not turn up to a meeting or openly challenge a decision. How you deal with such early resistance will have a significant effect on what happens next. For example you can jump on the person and squash both them and their words, or you can take an adult position, describing what they have done and assertively questioning their motives.

Collectivism of resistance
Resistance can happen both on an individual case-by-case basis or people may band together.

Individual action
Individually, people may resist, although this is generally limited to the extent of their personal power. For those with lower power, this may include passive refusals and covert action. For those with more power, it can include open challenge and criticism.
Handle individual action individually, starting with those with greater power. As necessary, you may need to make an example, and disciplining a senior executive can send a strong signal to other resistors.

Collective action
When people find a common voice in organized resistance, then their words and actions can create a significant threat to the change, even though they are individually less powerful. Trade Unions are a classic example of this.
Organized resistance is usually a sign of a deep divide. People will not go to the bother of organizing unless they have serious issues with the change. Manage collectives by negotiating with their leaders (which can be much easier than dealing with a myriad of smaller fires). You may well need to make concessions, but you at least should be able to rescue some key elements of the change. You can also 'divide and conquer' by striking deals with individual key players, although this must be done very carefully as it can cause a serious backlash.

Visibility of resistance
Sometimes resistance is out in the open, but more often it starts out in a more underhand, covert way.

Covert resistance
Covert resistance is deliberate resistance to change, but done in a manner that allows the perpetrators to appear as if they are not resisting. This may occur, for example, through sabotage of various kinds. Handle covert resistance by showing that you know what is happening and setting in place investigations designed to identify the people responsible.

Overt resistance
Overt resistance does not try to hide, and is a result either of someone comfortable with their power, someone for whom covert acts are against their values, or someone who is desperate. This may take forms such as open argument, refusal or attack.
Deal with overt resistance by first seeking to respond openly and authentically. If the resistance is blind, then you will have no alternative but to defend, for example by isolating and disciplining attackers.

Activity of resistance
Overt resistance does not need to take positive action -- sometimes it can be passive.

Passive resistance
Passive resistance occurs where people do not take specific actions. At meetings, they will sit quietly and may appear to agree with the change. Their main tool is to refuse to collaborate with the change. In passive aggression, for example, they may agree and then do nothing to fulfill their commitments. This can be very difficult to address, as resisters have not particularly done anything wrong. One way to address this is to get public commitment to an action (and you can start small on this), then follow up -- publicly if necessary -- to ensure they complete the action. Then keep repeating this until they are either bought in or give in.


Active resistance
Active resistance occurs where people are taking specific and deliberate action to resist the change. It may be overt, with such as public statements and acts of resistance, and it may be covert, such as mobilizing others to create an underground resistance movement.
Overt active resistance, although potentially damaging, is at least visible and you have the option of using formal disciplinary actions (although more positive methods should normally be used first). When it is covert, you may also need to use to covert methods to identify the source and hence take appropriate action.

Dealing with resistance
Here is a small raft of things you can do to handle resistance, starting with kind and moral approaches and ending with the harsher end of gaining compliance. This whole site has fleets other things you can do, of course.

Facilitation
The best approach to creating change is to work with them, helping them achieve goals that somehow also reach to the goals of the change project. When you work with people, they will be happier to work with you.
This is a good practice when people want to collaborate but are struggling to adjust to the situation and achieve the goals of change.

Education
When people are not really bought into the rationale for the change, they may well come around once they realize why the change is needed and what is needed of them. In particular, if new skills are required, you can provide these via a focused course of education.

Involvement
When people are not involved physically or intellectually, they are unlikely to be involved emotionally either. One of the best methods of getting people bought in is to get them involved. When their hands are dirty, they realize that dirt is not so bad, after all. They also need to justify their involvement to themselves and so persuade themselves that is the right thing to do.

Negotiation
When the other person cannot easily be persuaded, then you may need to give in order to get. Sit them down and ask what they are seeking. Find out what they want and what they will never accept. Work out a mutually agreeable solution that works just for them and just for you.

Manipulation
Manipulation means controlling a person's environment such that they are shaped by what is around them. It can be a tempting solution, but is morally questionable and, if they sense what you are doing, will lead to a very dangerous backlash. Only consider this when change is necessary in the short term and all other avenues have been explored.

Coercion
Even more extreme than subtle manipulation is overt coercion. This is where you sit them down and make overt threats, for example that if they do not comply that they will lose their jobs, perhaps in a humiliating and public sacking. This should only be used when speed is of the essence or when the other person themselves has taken to public and damaging actions.

How to cause resistance

Here are just a few of the ways you can cause people to resist the change:
• Resist the resistance, fighting back.
• Do not use your sponsors.
• Try to do everything yourself.
• Allow sponsors to be non-committal about the change.
• Use threats and aggressive language.
• Avoid talking to individual people.
• Avoid listening to people.
• Do not visit the various teams affected.
• Spend more time with your allies (and avoiding the troublemakers).
• Ignore those who resist. Keep your fingers crossed they will give up.
• Tell people about your plans and then ignore the plans.
• Give lots of rational reasons why people should do as you say.
• Dive into the details before they have bought the big picture.
• Do not test that people have understood what you have said.
• Lose faith yourself in the change.
• Be vague about what the change will be.
• Avoid being the messenger of bad news.
• Collude with the other person.
• Produce non-specific plans.
• Expect people to instantly understand what took you three weeks to figure out.
• Publicly and aggressively punish those who object.
• Shout down anyone who disagrees.
• Do not change reward systems to align with the change.
• Make 'an exception' for talented people who resist.


Responding to unexpected resistance

What happens when you are in the middle of a conversation or meeting and someone speaks out against the change?

Pause
The natural tendency of many people is to respond immediately, perhaps butting in or cutting the other person short. The voice may be authoritarian and tinged with anger. But think how this appears to other people? The message being sent is 'public disagreement is not allowed'. A likely effect is that the person resisting now has the sympathy of others (and may recruit the others to their cause). It is also very likely that the resistance will just go underground. So the very first thing is to bite your lip, hold your tongue and count to three. Take a moment to pause and assess the situation. What are others doing? Is the person speaking cautious or bold? What does the body language tell you?

Listen
The next step is to listen carefully not only to what they are saying but also to how they are saying it. Listen for the deeper messages between the lines. Listen to their fears, hopes and ambitions. Hear the tensions and emotions. Notice how they are coping. You can also draw out further information, tipping the bucket to ensure you have the whole story. Use appropriate questioning techniques to learn more.

Empathize
Make your initial response one that empathizes with their position. Show first that you understand (even though you may not agree) and respect their right to voice an honest opinion. This and other previous action will have won you many friends -- perhaps even the person in question who may have been expecting you to resist their resistance (which is just what it would be) and is preparing for a fight. When people expect a fight and find only concern, the surprise is likely to change their opinion.

Think
Before you open your mouth, think hard about what you are going to say and how you are going to say it. Done wrong, a response will show your empathy to be false and may cause a bitter backlash.

Respond
Respond in a way that offers the other person a dignified way out. Seek win-win. Use their language. Reframe their position to show a bigger picture.

The income statement is a simple and straightforward report on the proposed business's cash-generating ability. It is a score card on the financial performance of your business that reflects when sales are made and when expenses are incurred. It draws information from the various financial models developed earlier such as revenue, expenses, capital (in the form of depreciation), and cost of goods. By combining these elements, the income statement illustrates just how much your company makes or loses during the year by subtracting cost of goods and expenses from revenue to arrive at a net result -- which is either a profit or a loss.


Budget and Financial Constraints

Financial Constraints and Differential Investment Responses

Since differences in investment opportunities arising from product market exposures do not appear to explain differences in the effects of depreciations on affiliates and local firms, we now consider an alternate explanation: a differential ability to overcome financial constraints.

Local Firms and Leverage Differences

If financial constraints contribute to the relative underperformance of local firms, then the relative performance amongst local firms should be dictated by the level and composition of leverage prior to the depreciation. While data on the duration of debt is not available for multinational affiliates, data on the level and duration of debt is available for local firms. For each local firm, we compute averages of the ratio of total debt to assets and the ratio of short term debt to total debt over the three years prior to a crisis. We then use the sample median level of these averages to classify if local firms have above or below medians levels of leverage and short term debt. Dummies are included in interaction terms in the basic specifications to analyze if highly levered local firms, particularly those with short term debt, experienced the sharpest reductions in investment subsequent to depreciations. Local firms that rely heavily on short term debt are likely to face significant liquidity constraints, especially since interest rates often increase following depreciations. The specifications are presented employ the log of capital expenditures as a dependent variable and the interaction terms of interest are those that discriminate amongst local firms on the basis of the level and duration of their leverage prior to the depreciation. In these three specifications, the coefficients on the post-depreciation dummy indicate how local firms with high leverage, high amounts of short term debt or firms with both characteristics respond to the depreciations. In turn, the interaction terms indicate how the remaining local firms and how affiliates respond relative to these baseline coefficients.

The coefficients indicate that local firms with high leverage are the firms associated with the low investment response. Indeed, the coefficients on the post-depreciation dummy and that variable interacted with the low leverage dummies are of similar magnitude but opposite signs, indicating that local firms with low leverage do not experience a sharp fall in investment. The coefficient on the post-depreciation dummy interacted with the multinational dummy indicates that affiliates increase investment. The composition of debt is emphasized, and, similarly, firms with low amounts of short term debt do not experience a sharp investment drop. Finally, the roles of the level and composition of debt are jointly considered and the results are even more stark. Local firms with low leverage and low amounts of short term debt experience investment increases subsequent to the depreciation as the coefficient on the relevant interaction term is greater, in absolute value, than the coefficient on the post-depreciation dummy alone. The increase in investment experienced by this set of local firms is similar in magnitude to the increase in investment of affiliates, as indicated by the coefficient on the depreciation dummy interacted with the multinational dummy. These results are robust to the use the ratio of capital expenditure to net PPE as the dependent variable. The average investment experience of local firms obscures much heterogeneity that is associated with their level and composition of leverage prior to the depreciation.

The Financing of Multinational Affiliates During Sharp Depreciations

While more granular data on local firms is not available, a closer look at the behavior of multinational affiliates provides further evidence on precisely how they circumvent financing constraints. Table 7 presents regressions that examine growth in different components of affiliate financing subsequent to depreciations. The results demonstrate that local debt, foreign debt (debt borrowed from non-local persons), and related party debt (debt borrowed from an affiliate’s parent) all increase significantly in the year of depreciations. There are two interpretations of these results. First, new capital may flow to affiliates in one of these forms of debt. Second, if debt is denominated in foreign currency, then the reported increase in debt may simply reflect a revaluation of existing loans to reflect the depreciation. This revaluation of existing debt would not necessarily include any new flows of capital. Since increases in debt occur in the year of depreciations and are larger for debt from foreign sources (which is more likely to be denominated in foreign currency), this revaluation effect is likely to explain at least some part of the growth in debt. Examining changes in paid-in-capital provides cleaner measures of new capital infusions from the parents of affiliates. Paid-in-capital consists of the initial capital stock of an affiliate and any new equity infusions. This measure does not include retained earnings. Since this component of financing is measured in dollars, using historic exchange rates for translation when necessary, changes in the growth of paid-in-capital cannot be explained by changes in currency valuations. The data reports regression results where the dependent variable is the growth in paid-in-capital. The paid-in-capital of multinational affiliates increases in the years following depreciations, although this increase is only significant in the year after a depreciation. The coefficient estimates suggest that the paid-in-capital of multinational affiliates increases by 10.8% in the year after depreciations. This result provides direct evidence that new equity infusions from parent companies enable multinational affiliates in emerging markets to capitalize on investment opportunities after depreciations. In combination with the evidence provided on the impact of the level and composition of local firm debt, this evidence further confirms the role of internal capital markets in allowing multinational firms to overcome financial constraints that handicap local firms.

Alternative Explanations

It is also possible that the relative performance of multinational affiliates and local firms reflects other factors associated with the two types of firms. For example, as hypothesized in Blonigen, the depreciations could be accompanied by an increased incentive for foreign multinationals to purchase emerging market corporations and exploit their intangible assets abroad. This explanation of investment dynamics during depreciations, hypothesized in the context of U.S.-Japan mergers and acquisition activity, is less likely to be relevant in the emerging market setting where fewer firms have intangible assets worth exploiting in developed markets. Moreover, much of the evidence presented above is on capital expenditures and therefore is less likely to be driven by acquisitions, as hypothesized in this theory. The differential response of multinational firms could also reflect overinvestment by multinational firms in the aftermath of currency crises rather than constrained under-investment by local firms. If over-investment was operative, it is hard to explain why the analysis of operating exposures discussed above yield significant results. Moreover, analysis presented in Desai, Foley and Forbes does not indicate that multinational firms experience a decrease in operating profits relative to local firms following deprecations. More generally, it is conceivable that other differences between the two samples are driving the results. The descriptive statistics indicate that local firms are larger than multinationals, and such size differences could help explain the results. In order to consider this possibility, interactions of the lag of the log of firm sales and the depreciation dummies have been included in the specifications are presented, and the results are not substantively changed. It is also possible that non-random entry, exit or switching between multinational and local status may conflate the results. In order to consider this possibility, the specifications are presented have been performed using a balanced panel of firms and only those firms that were present two years prior to the depreciations. These analyses generate results very similar to those presented in the paper. Finally, reduced investment by local firms could reflect the corporate governance deficiencies of local firms. Johnson et al. model this possibility and, in their model, stealing increases as investment becomes less profitable in environments with weak governance. To examine the possibility of this alternative explanation, we employ the country-level governance variables used in Johnson et al., split the sample at median levels of these governance variables, and investigate if continued differential performance persists in the subsamples. Splitting the sample at the median level of judicial efficiency, rule of law, or enforceable minority shareholder rights indicates that multinationals outperform local firms in all subsamples. Only if the sample is split at the median level of accounting standards is there a subsample where multinationals do not outperform local firms, and this is the subsample of countries with low, not high, accounting standards.

Reference:
WIKIPEDIA.org

MIS 2 - Assignment 2

Nature of Relationship between Business plan an IS plan

There is considerable debate in the academic literature on the issue of business/IS alignment. As yet, no one has come up with a universal methodology for achieving it. However, there is significant consensus that business planning should not be done in isolation. Indeed, it has to be done in conjunction with IT plans and both plans need to be developed collaboratively by a team consisting of business-focused managers and technology-focused IS professionals. Clearly, the implication is that, when writing an IT strategic plan, chief information officers (CIOs) should not wait until the business plan is formulated. CIOs should be active participants in the development of both strategies. The point that a sequential approach to alignment is not effective and that “a better approach is one in which strategies, processes, technologies and actions are defined and aligned concurrently.” Similarly, The development of IS strategy during the same process and at the same time as business strategies if organizations are to derive maximum advantage from IT systems.

The reality in many organizations, however, is that they have no formal business planning process, let alone an IS strategic planning process. Almost a third of respondents did not have a formal business plan—that is, a written plan. Perhaps a detailed written plan is not always essential as long as both parties—business-savvy managers and IT specialists—are well informed about the corporate aims and objectives and participate in the informal planning process to understand how technology can
help the organization in realizing them .

Over the past twenty years, information systems (IS) planning has consistently remained among the top ten issues facing senior executives. A key aspect of strategic IS planning is the need for alignment between business planning (BP) and information systems planning (ISP). In the context of BP and ISP, alignment means that business and IS plans (the outputs of the planning process) should be in harmony and consistent with one another. In other words, similar to aligning things to make them congruent, business and IS strategic alignment can be defined as the alignment of IS goals, strategies and processes with the goals, strategies and the processes of the business enterprise.

It appears that IS planninghas decreased in ranking (though it still remains among the top five issues) while business–information technology (IT) alignment has remained the top key issue since 2004. Although this issue has received significant attention in recent years, empirical research focusing specifically on BP–ISP alignment appears to have somewhat slowed down. Note that this chapter focuses on the alignment between IS strategy/plan and business strategy/plan, and between IS planning and business planning. When the concept of deriving IS strategy from business strategy was first, it dealt primarily with the content of plans—that is, deriving theIS mission, strategy and objectives from the mission, strategy and constraints of the strategicbusiness plan. Even when the “reverse” transformation of having IS influence business strategy was first discussed, the focus was on content.

Little attention was given to the alignment of the IS strategic planning process with the business planning process until IBM used the other approach as the basis for their business systems planning (BSP) process. IBM’s use of these ideas with their customers around the globe was significant in popularizing and extending their application to the consideration of both content and process. Subsequently, various researchers have emphasized the importance of enterprise architectureand strategic planning methodologies/ frameworks for creating alignment. Examples of IS planning methodologies/frameworks that suggest how IS can support or be aligned with business include: BSP and Business Information Control Study (BICS), and critical success factors (CSFs), value chain, customer resource life cycle, and strategic thrusts. In addition, authors have also examined the creation of business-aligned IS strategy in practice. However, a review of such literature, which would include details of different strategic IS planning processes and frameworks, is beyond the scope of this chapter.

Various terms are often used synonymously to describe alignment, namely, “bridge”, “congruence”, “consistency”, “coordination”, “fit”, “fusion”, “harmony”, “integration”, “linkage”, and “match”.

The need for BP–ISP alignment or more generally, business–IT alignment, has been emphasized in both prescriptive and empirical studies. The basic premise of the importance of alignment is that greater alignment between IS and business will lead to better performance. Alignment has been examined in various contexts, such as mergers and acquisitions, enterprise systems implementation, critical success factors of business and IS executives, software development processes, Internet usage, and interorganizational relationships. However, the focus of this chapter is mainly on the alignment of business planning/strategies with IS planning/strategies.

Alignment is important because it helps to: ensure that information systems are targeted on areas that are critical to successful business performance, ensure that the IS function supports organizational goals and activities at every level, enhance top management’s understanding of the significance of IS, and increases IS management’s understanding of business objectives, ensure that ISP activities are coordinated with BP activities so that the IS function can better support business strategies and contribute to the achievement of business value, facilitate acquisition and deployment of information technology that is congruent with the organization’s competitive needs rather than existing patterns of usage within the organization, heighten the stature of IS within the organization, thus facilitating the financial and managerial support necessary to effectively implement innovative, maximize returns on IT investment, help achieve competitive advantage through IS, provide direction and flexibility to react to new opportunities.

Reference:
WIKIPEDIA.org

MIS 2 - Assignment 1

Ten years from now, I see myself as an MIS Programmer in a large organization. To achieve this goal, one of my strategies is to acquire the top ten traits of a good programmer. These traits are:

1. Think! - This is the most important trait of a good programmer. I must never jumps into anything. Given a problem, I must first think over it. The more I think, the more ideas, questions and alternate solutions come to his mind.

2. Learn! - Learn Baby, learn! A good programmer has a burning desire to learn new things every day. I observed learning itself is so formalized and force fed that students are bored with it.

3. Help others! - This to me is the golden rule of programming. "Help other as you would want others to help you". The advantage of helping others was: immense experience in solving programming problems, various ways people see a particular problem. Also you come across interesting/weird/strange ideas!, empathy towards programmers. The difficulty they face in their day to day job. But sometimes, "Help others" is not something officially appreciated.

4. Lead by example! - Another important trait if you are a senior programmer or architect. If you are a technical lead or a lead programmer, lead by example. Write code in front of your team members. You will get more trust, respect and support from your team!

5. Know a bit about everything! - For example, If you are a core Java programmer, you should also know about SQL programming. It also helps if you know a bit of regular expressions or a scripting language.

6. Know basics of computer science! - There are many programmers out there who doesn’t have the basic knowledge of computers or their inner workings. This is very essential. Many of the programming difficulties that people face is due to the lack of knowledge of how computers work! If needed take a computer science course.

7. Perfect it as much as you can! - Nobody is perfect. You can’t write perfect code in the first iteration. Refactoring is the mantra. Analyse your code, find code fragments that can be reused and refactored.

8. Use tools! - Many programming tasks can simplied if you use appropriate tools. For example, in all my projects I use Adobe Dreamweaver to develop web applications.

9. Explore code! - If you want to improve your coding skills quickly, one thing I recommend is exploring code written by others. If I would have said this 10 years back, you would ask me- "Where can I find good code?" But now the scene is completely different. Open source movement has revolutionized everything. There is so much good open source code out there that I feel overwhelmed by it!

10. Be Humble! - Humility is the last of the top 10 traits a good programmer should have. But it is not the least! As you get more and more experience, it is very natural to feel arrogant. The moment you become arrogant, you loose the trust and respect of your fellow programmers. Being arrogant also shows how ignorant you are! Remember, no one is perfect. You can also make mistakes. If someone points it out, thank him and accept his valid comments.



Here’s my other adopted strategies:

Never stop learning

Computerworld's "40 under 40" are a varied group, but one trait you'd be hard-pressed to find among them is a willingness to rest on their laurels. IT professionals who have to be asked to learn new skills confine themselves to narrowly defined careers.While it's essential to master a technical specialty, those who become leaders tend to broaden, not just deepen, their areas of expertise. Attending a conference on a topic that's outside your comfort zone is a great way to stimulate your thinking. In addition to traditional classes and seminars, seek out other ways to learn, like finding a mentor or taking on projects that stretch your abilities.

Keep track of blogs and Web sites in areas that interest you, participate in online forums, and attend trade shows and networking events, always with a critical eye on your future. What new technologies are most likely to shape the industry? By keeping up with changes in technology, you gain the ability to steer your career toward growing specialties (such as wireless security, to use a current example) and away from less marketable ones.

Soft skills set you apart

Keeping your technical skills and knowledge up to date is important, but if you want to help bring about change rather than just respond to it, you'll also need to take a look at how you work with others. In a survey by Robert Half Technology, CIOs cited interpersonal skills, the ability to work under pressure and communication skills as the top traits they seek in IT professionals, aside from technological proficiency. Soft skills may be trickier to assess and improve than hard skills, but they're critical to the impact you have on your colleagues, company and industry. It's a good idea to periodically assess your soft skills to determine where improvements should be made. Ask trusted colleagues for feedback on your strengths and weaknesses. When you identify a shortcoming, make a plan to address it. For example, if you think you could stand to improve your presentation skills, you might consider enrolling in an organization like Toastmasters or volunteering to give your team's status update at the next staff meeting.

Business savvy is another key attribute that requires deliberate effort. Whenever you're uncertain about the bottom-line "why" of an IT project, refresh your knowledge of the company's priorities and goals by talking to your manager. A big-picture perspective is a prerequisite to making meaningful contributions to your firm. In addition, understanding the big picture enables you to anticipate the needs of your company and your industry before those needs become apparent to everyone -- a major distinguishing characteristic of IT innovators.

Establish your leadership potential

For the most successful IT professionals, job descriptions are just starting points. When you take the initiative to expand your role, people start to think of you as a leader. Serving as a leader also means demonstrating integrity and selflessness. For example, the willingness to "own" a mistake or a failed project does more to establish your credibility than making sure you get your share of the credit when a project succeeds.

Your role as a leader should extend beyond the walls of your company. Joining a professional association, going to conferences and offering to speak or present at industry events are good ways to build your reputation and become an active part of the exchange of ideas. Many successful IT careers get stuck on plateaus not because of any shortage of ingenuity or persistence, but because they take place largely in a vacuum rather than in constant, creative interaction with others.

MIS Major Paper Journal

June 29 –July 02 2009
Group decided to start on seeking for probable company to be adopted for this project.

July 03 2009
The group had decided to ask the permission to SSS if we can conduct study and to be our adopted company.

July 06 2009
Monday
We went to SSS and we were able to entertain by Mr. Jesulito Flores, one of the IT support staff of Regional Information System Support Department. He advised us to present a letter address to the branch manager, Mr. Manolito Tagalog.

July 07 2009
After we had drafted the clearance letter, we immediately signed it to our facilitator together with OSS Director and the Dean.
We went back to SSS and present the letter to Mr. Jess. He personally gave it to the branch manager. Unfortunately, Mr. Tagalog, branch manager was not there so, he told us to return in Monday.

July 13 2009
We returned to SSS to verify if our letter was approved by the branch manager. Fortunately, it was granted.

July 15-17 2009
Group Discussion
Planning for Information System Assessment Content
Tentative IS Assessment Content

Introduction
Purpose, Scope And Objective of the Study
Company Profile Definitions
Legislative History
Vision, Mission and Goal
Company Operation
SWOT Analysis
Finding and Observation
Parameters (IT Technology)
Process Work Diagram
Recommendation

July 20-28 2009

Group Activities:
Research - for references
Topics:
§ SWOT Analysis
§ Assessment Tool
§ Related on Hardware
§ Related on Software
Review of Modules
Formulations of Guide Questions
Aug 26 2009
The group had decided to present the formulated questionnaire to the RISS Department Head.
We were told they cannot accommodate us by this month because of the busy schedule they had. So, the group decided to leave the questionnaire for them to answer it in their vacant time for our initial data gathering.

Aug 29 2009
Company Background
Data Gathered:
Guide Book for SSS Members
Social Security Act of 1997
SSS Forms
Visits Web Site www.sss.gov.ph

Aug 30 2009
The group started the documentation of the company background:
Company / Legislative History
Vision, Mission and Goals
Organizational Chart
Read the given Company references:
Guide Book
SSS Booklet

Sept. 17 2009
We were able to conduct an interview to Mr. Jesulito Flores.
Here are the informations he imparted to us:
Regional Information Service Support (RISS) Department
-supports SSS with relates to IT problems
-total control of all systems in Regional Southern Mindanao Branches:
Davao
Toril
Digos
Kidapawan
Tagum
Gensan
Tacurong
Coronadal
Mati
-the first line of Defense
-ICT of Southern Mindanao
-Technical Support to ICT problems
Social Security System
-social support to private company
Service Systems:
-web sites : online inquiries
-Info Kiosk
-main office located in Manila
Network Operating Systems
-Windows Base, currently using XP version
Hardware maintenance
-twice a year
-warranty of hardware purchased
System Problems:
-Electrical Fault
-Internet Connection
Internet Service Provider
-Globe Tel. and PLDT
-RASS (Remote Access Service Search)
Software Proprietary
-SAP
-ORACLE
Departments in main office:
-ADM 1-3 (Application Dev. Management)
-SSA (System Software Administration)
-TRD (Technical Research Dev.)

Sept. 28 2009
This was our second interview with the RISS Department Head and Mr. Jesulito Flores , an IT support.

Sept 30 09
We went to PLDT & Smart Company at Ponciano St. Davao City. We had inquired about upgrading Internet Connection from T1 to T3.
We were entertained by Mr. Rolando R. Cadabas SME Area Sales Head of Mindanao together with his colleague who was a graduate of ECE of USEP. They gave us the idea about cost of upgrading internet connection and the probable cost for installation.

Information Environment: Virtual Library

The Virtual Library was the first index of content on the World Wide Web and still operates as a directory of e-texts and information sources on the web. It was started by Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of HTML and the Web itself, in 1991 at CERN in Geneva. Unlike commercial index sites, it is run by a loose confederation of volunteers, who compile pages of key links for particular areas in which they are expert. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "WWWVL", the "Virtual Library" or just "the VL".

Information resources or information services that are available over the Internet. At BMCC, the Virtual Library site provides access to a large number of library resources (indexes, journals, and reference materials, for example) and online reference service via the campus computer network. Students access these resources through a browser on a workstation anywhere on campus or remotely from home. A search aid that combines Internet technology with traditional library methods of cataloguing and assessing data.

The individual indices, or virtual libraries live on hundreds of different servers around the world. A set of index pages linking these individual libraries is maintained at http://vlib.org/, in Geneva only a few kilometres from where the VL began life. A mirror of this index is kept at East Anglia (UK). A VL specific search engine has operated for some years and is now (VLsearch) located on its own server at vlsearch.org.

The central affairs of the Virtual Library are co-ordinated by an elected Council. A central index (the 'Catalog') is maintained and joint services provided by the Council on behalf of the association.

My Role in virtual library is Systems Administrator. A system administrator, systems administrator, or sysadmin, is a person employed to maintain and operate a computer system and/or network. System administrators may be members of an information technology department. The duties of a system administrator are wide-ranging, and vary widely from one organization to another. Sysadmins are usually charged with installing, supporting, and maintaining servers or other computer systems, and planning for and responding to service outages and other problems. Other duties may include scripting or light programming, project management for systems-related projects, supervising or training computer operators, and being the consultant for computer problems beyond the knowledge of technical support staff. A System Administrator must demonstrate a blend of technical skills and responsibility.

The challenges facing me in performing the role of systems administrator are:

1. Operating Systems and Applications Challenge – I can address this challenge by maintaining a database system, and handling the responsibility for the integrity of the data and the efficiency and performance of the system. I will make sure that the network infrastructure such as switches and routers, and diagnoses problems with these or with the behavior of network-attached computers. I can confront this challenge by analyzing system logs and identifying potential issues with computer systems, introducing and integrating new technologies into existing data center environments, and performing routine audits of systems and software and backups. I can also meet this challenge by applying operating system updates, patches, and configuration changes and performing system performance tuning

2. Problem Solving and Troubleshooting Challenge- I can address this challenge by responding to individual users' difficulties with computer systems, provide instructions and sometimes training, and diagnose and solve common problems. I will perform routine maintenance and upkeep, such as changing backup tapes or replacing failed drives in a RAID. Such tasks usually require physical presence in the room with the computer; and while less skilled than sysadmin tasks require a similar level of trust, since the operator has access to possibly sensitive data. I am also ready and to be on the call when a computer system goes down or malfunctions, and must be able to quickly and correctly diagnose what is wrong and how best to fix it.

3. Software Engineering or Developing Challenge– I will face this challenge by maintaining web server services (such as Apache or IIS) that allow for internal or external access to web sites. Tasks include managing multiple sites, administering security, and configuring necessary components and software. Responsibilities may also include software change management. I must understand the behavior of software in order to deploy it and to troubleshoot problems, and generally know several programming languages used for scripting or automation of routine tasks.

4. Computer Security Challenge– I will dare this challenge by engaging into a study and training to make a specialist in computer and network security, including the administration of security devices such as firewalls, as well as consulting on general security measures. Particularly when dealing with Internet-facing or business-critical systems, I must challenge myself to have a strong grasp of computer security. This includes not merely deploying software patches, but also preventing break-ins and other security problems with preventive measures. Computer security administration is also my role that is responsible for overall security and the upkeep of firewalls and intrusion detection systems, but all I must be generally responsible for the security of the systems in their keep.

Reference:
www.wikipedia.org

Barriers in IS/IT Implementation in SSS Davao

Barrier in Information Systems/Information Technology means a factor that had a direct or indirect negative impact on the implementation processes. Based on my adopted company SSS, the barriers in their IS/IT implementations are:

1. Exceeded budget – This barrier is based on the interviews with the SSS IT personnel that the buys any IT hardware assets that is popular in the market like the Cisco Router. The regional offices of SSS have limited recommendation power in the purchasing of IT equipment due to the centralized management of information systems. I would suggest that the regional offices of SSS must have price and cost monitoring program and department of the hardware purchasing. I believe that this department will save the public money and this savings will go to the benefits its members.

2. Lack of specialized personnel. This barrier is come up from of the interviewee that he trained only once in his 5-year work residency is SSS as an IT Support Staff. I recommend that SSS must have a regular training program for their IT personnel. No technology implementation can be successful without proper training, and many people in today’s workforce are very adept at using the technology at hand and seem to derive much more value from the training they receive because of their high comfort level. Yet there are still those who experience high anxiety at the thought of learning a new application or system, but given the necessary encouragement and support, SSS Information Systems end-users can become productive end-users

3. Use of inexperienced staff.- This barrier is risen from the conversations with the SSS IT personnel that there are information systems end-users who are old enough and ready to retire from the service. These people are difficult to teach the new technology and new innovations of information systems of SSS. I would suggest to SSS to hire young professionals to use the functions and features of its information systems. I would also recommend to extend IT education to current SSS employees and Information Systems end-users. To adapt the competence of the personnel to changing demands, two alternative strategies may be applied. One strategy implies that the existing personnel may receive additional training and education in order to improve their own competence and skills. The other strategy means that new personnel categories are hired, complementing the competence profile of the existing personnel.

4. Opposition from leftist group to the new information particularly to the unified ID system – This barrier is taken from the excerpts of journals of interviews with the IT staff from SSS. The unified ID system aims to consolidate the different ID system of SSS, Pag-ibig, LTO and Philhealth. The leftist group opposes to this information system proposal because they believe that this project can interfere with the privacy of individual members of these government institutions. And they also think that this government project points to the surveillance of activities of leftist group. I would suggest to SSS officials to conduct a public forum for them to explain the advantages of the unified id system. Also, the public will know that this project has a great purpose in their transactions with these institutions and to avoid bad humors to this unified id system.