Question

Long Essays 4 questions (each answer should be a page long)

Q1          Essay     Describe the role of the CIO in business today.  Ensure that your answer addresses the following topics: (ch 4)

What are his/her responsibilities and priorities?

What are the more/less important skills required of a CIO?

Is (s)he more of a leader or a manager?

What are his/her relationships with other executives, including the CEO?

What activities should the CIO focus on to be effective?

All of the above is one question

Q2          Essay     What is the Strategic Alignment Maturity model and why is it important? 

Select a case study and apply the Strategic Alignment Maturity model.  Rate the company you select in each of the six criteria categories using the levels described by Luftman.  Give an example from the case for why you believe the company you chose to be at the level you selected for each criteria.

I will upload three of the case studies I took in class for this question

Q3          Essay     Describe the process for managing emerging technologies.  Elaborate on each step in the process using current day examples. (page 178,179)

Q4          Essay     Explain the change curve and why is managing change important to an IT organization.  Be sure to address:

Why managing change is important? (page 263 )

What is the change curve and why is it important? Page 269,270

Where did the change curve come from?  P 290

What are the most important points related to the change curve (discussed in class)? Q3 and 4

What are the seven steps to the change curve and what does each represent (give an example for each)?  P270

Short Essay    all answers for these short essays should take two pages

1.            Short Essay         What is the role of IT in business today and how is it different from other business functions? (Page 7, 8)

2.            Short Essay         Suppose that you are the CIO of a large manufacturing company with several plants in different regions of the United States.  Each plant has it’s own operating structure (including it’s own operations processes and management team, it’s own accounting and finance function, it’s own HR staff, etc.) but also reports back to a centralized organization.  How would you structure your IT organization (which organizational form)?  Why would you organize it that way?  Also, explain (briefly) which structure would have been your second choice and why you did not choose it?

(Page 220,221)

3.            Short Essay         What is Strategic Alignment and why is it important? (Page 35)

4.            Short Essay         Explain the skills needed by IT professionals at different management levels within the IT organization and how they change as the professional “climbs the management ladder”.

(Page 110)

   5.         Short Essay         What are the keys to recruiting and retaining IT talent in today’s market?

(page247)

6.            Short Essay         What is IT governance, why is it important?  What are some effective governance alternatives? (Page 293, 299,303)

7.            Short Essay         Why is communication between IT and the business important?  What can be done to help improve communications between the business and IT? (Page 329,346)

8.            Short Essay         Why is it important to measure IT?  Who should decide what should be measured, what kinds of things should be measured, and why should they be measured?   (Page 356,373)