Because digital and Information Technology (IT) has become a more significant part of strategic advantage and workplace operations, information systems personnel have become key to the success of corporate enterprises, particularly with the pursuit of becoming more "digital." This book focuses on the vital role that technology must play in the course of organizational development and learning and on the growing need to integrate technology, particularly digital technology, fully into the culture of all organizations. Fundamentally this fourth edition takes an even stronger position than the previous editions that organizational learning is crucial to the success of what has been coined "digital transformation." Companies are struggling to understand what it means to "be digital." Their technology personnel go far beyond the traditional IT staff into areas such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Processing (NLP). These three functions now fall under the auspices of "Data Science," which is now at the center of allowing companies to become more data dominant as is necessary for survival. While traditional IT personnel have long been criticized for their inability to function as part of the business, they are now vital to assist in the leadership of digital transformation. It could be a costly error to underestimate the technical skills needed by IT staff to ensure successful digital transformation. In fact, subsequent chapters will highlight the technical challenges needed to build new architectures based on 5G, blockchain, cloud computing, and eventually quantum processing. The challenge then is to integrate business and technical IT staff via cultural assimilation and to strategically integrate advanced computing architectures.
This fourth edition includes new topics such as the future of work that addresses the challenges of assimilating multiple generations of employees and how to establish working cultures that are more resilient and adaptive and can be configured as a platform driven by data assets.
Author(s): Arthur M. Langer
Edition: 4
Publisher: CRC Press
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 355
Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Table of Contents
Foreword
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction
Background
Chapter 1: The “Ravell” Corporation
Introduction
A new approach
The blueprint for integration
Enlisting support
Assessing progress
Resistance in the ranks
Line management to the rescue
IT begins to reflect
Defining an identity for information technology
Implementing the integration: a move toward trust and reflection
Key lessons
Defining reflection and learning for an organization
Working toward a clear goal
Commitment to quality
Teaching staff “not to know”
Transformation of culture
Alignment with administrative departments
Conclusion
Chapter 2: The IT dilemma
Introduction
Recent background
IT in the organizational context
IT and organizational structure
The role of IT in business strategy
Ways of evaluating IT
Executive knowledge and management of IT
IT: a view from the top
Section 1: Chief executive perception of the role of IT
Section 2: Management and strategic issues
Section 3: Measuring IT performance and activities
General results
Defining the IT dilemma
Recent developments in operational excellence
Note
Chapter 3: Technology as a variable and responsive organizational dynamism
Introduction
Technological dynamism
Responsive organizational dynamism
Strategic integration
Summary
Cultural assimilation
IT organization communications with “others”
Movement of traditional IT staff
Summary
Technology business cycle
Feasibility
Measurement
Planning
Implementation
Evolution
Drivers and supporters
Santander versus Citibank
Information technology roles and responsibilities
Replacement or outsource
Note
Chapter 4: Organizational learning theories and technology
Introduction
Learning organizations
Communities of practice
Learning preferences and experiential learning
Social discourse and the use of language
Identity
Skills
Emotion
Linear development in learning approaches
Chapter 5: Managing organizational learning and technology
The role of line management
Line managers
First-line managers
Supervisor
Management vectors
Knowledge management
Change management
Change management for IT organizations
Social networks and information technology
Chapter 6: Digital technology platforms and the future of work
Introduction
Process barriers
Data-centric mindsets and organizational resilience in data platform companies
Understanding organizational resilience’s relationship to data platforms
Data platform architecture and resilience
Proliferation of data platforms
Data platforms and leadership
Product leadership
Data platform executive leadership
Intrapreneurism versus entrepreneurism
Vision versus reason
Steering and build-measure-learn
Accelerate
Common leadership strategies
Intrapreneurial leadership considerations based on types of data platforms
Summary
Chapter 7: Virtual teams and outsourcing
Introduction
Status of virtual teams
Management considerations
Dealing with multiple locations
Externalization
Internalization
Combination
Socialization
Externalization dynamism
Internalization dynamism
Combination dynamism
Socialization dynamism
Dealing with multiple locations and outsourcing
Revisiting social discourse
Identity
Skills
Emotion
Chapter 8: Organizational learning, IT, and technology disruptions
Introduction
Siemens AG
Aftermath
ICAP
Five years later
General Electric (GE)
Background
The GE strategy
GE’s experiment
What went wrong?
Challenges in becoming a software company
Effective use of new technologies is a critical aspect for the success of any new platform
FedEx: digital transformation through application innovation
Background
New strategies
Summary
Chapter 9: Forming a cyber security culture
Introduction
History
Talking to the board
Establishing a security culture
Understanding what it means to be compromised
Cyber security dynamism and responsive organizational dynamism
Cyber strategic integration
Cyber cultural assimilation
Summary
Organizational learning and application development
Cyber security risk
Risk responsibility
Driver/supporter implications
Chapter 10: Digital transformation and changes in consumer behavior
Introduction
Requirements without users and without input
Concepts of the S-curve and digital transformation analysis and design
Organizational learning and the S-curve
Communities of practice
The IT leader in the digital transformation era
How technology disrupts firms and industries
Dynamism and digital disruption
Critical components of “Digital” organization
Assimilating digital technology operationally and culturally
Conclusion
Chapter 11: Integrating multiple generations of employees to accelerate competitive advantage in the digital age
Introduction
The employment challenge in the digital era
Gen Y population attributes
Advantages of employing millennials to support digital transformation
Integration of Gen Y with baby boomers and Gen X
Designing the digital enterprise
The new digital natives: Gen Z
Assimilating Gen Y and Z talent from underserved and socially excluded populations
Langer workforce maturity arc
Theoretical constructs of the LWMA
The LWMA and action research
Implications for new pathways for digital talent
Demographic shifts in talent resources
Economic sustainability
Integration and trust
Global implications for sources of talent
Conclusion
Chapter 12: Toward best practices
Introduction
Chief IT executive
Definitions of maturity stages and dimension variables in the chief IT executive best practices arc
Maturity stages
Performance dimensions
Chief executive officer
CIO direct reporting to the CEO
Outsourcing
Centralization versus decentralization of IT
CIO needs advanced degrees
Need for standards
Risk management
The CEO best practices technology arc
Definitions of maturity stages and dimension variables in the CEO technology best practices arc
Maturity stages
Performance dimensions
Middle management
The middle management best practices technology arc
Definitions of maturity stages and dimension variables in the middle manager best practices arc
Maturity stages
Performance dimensions
Summary
Ethics and maturity
Note
Chapter 13: Conclusion
Introduction
Glossary
References
Index
