IFSM 301 – IT Decision Paper

Running head: GG Freightways CIO Memo 1

GG Freightways CIO Memo 8

GG Freightways CIO Memo

Kyami Clarke

University of Maryland Global Campus

Professor Sean Sullivan

Spring 2021

IFSM 301 6383 Foundations of Information Systems Management

GG Freightways CIO Memo

To: GG Frieghtways CIO

From: Kyami Clarke

Date: February 15, 2021

RE: IT Organization Memo

1. Introduction and Purpose

This Memo is meant to illustrate cost-efficient strategies for the IT department, provided to the CFO for approval. After examining the staff members, tasks and duties appear to differ, and that confidence and employee satisfaction are low. The support desk was always considered reasonably professional, and it took way too long to address issues. In delivering applications, technology innovators were very slow, and when the systems were eventually released, they did not reflect what the consumers expected or desired. Network blackouts have happened very often from the viewpoint of consumers. Finally, it was advised by the Chief Financial Officer that the expense of IT should be reduced. This was the primary aim of writing this memorandum to the CFO.

2. Leadership Philosophy & Management Style

a. Leadership Philosophy: Being an efficient CIO implies being a boss. There are three elements of the leadership style of a CIO: empowering people, leading the company to shared priorities, and decision-making. These are the three most significant components required to boost the absence of representatives of the IT team. A significant part of leadership is to motivate the workforce, and it challenges workers to extend their comfort zones and accomplish goals (Ncube, 2010). As a CIO, I would motivate multiple individuals differently. The mixture of setting targets and mapping the path for meeting those goals is guidance. And decision making is the most crucial stage for CIO because it is difficult to satisfy the team members along with the recent changes proposed to make in that department. Only with an effective leadership philosophy can the IT team members understand their work priority and work efficiently to satisfy their clients and project requirements.

b. Management Style: The management style most suitable in introducing change in a department is the Visionary Management Style. A visionary leader expresses a mission and path in which her/his workers agree, which persuades her team to work hard to achieve her vision. This provides a tremendous sense of control to their staff, something all managers have to deliver to their team members, a fundamental psychological need for self-direction. They become more fulfilled and inspired to accomplish them since they focus on tasks that they have more power over. To reduce the laziness and ignorance of the IT developers, it is essential to use this management style, because as a CIO, one has to be firm and at the same time fair with their team members to co-operate with their queries regarding their instructions. With this, the manager has a firm grip on the process control (Covin & Slevin, 1988).

3. Internal IT Strategies

To understand IT Strategies used within GGFRT, what resource is suitable to allocate to them for working and how these strategies will improve the organization's performance effectiveness and efficiency of the organization's performance.

Internal IT Strategy/Description	People, Process, or Technology (state which one or more is applicable)	Explanation of how this IT Strategy will Help Improve the Organization’s Effectiveness
Example: do not use but leave it in the table when completing this section. Meet compliance requirements by updating current technology or developing/acquiring new technology to meet these various mandates (only one would be chosen from the strategic business objective from ITSP #1).	Technology	By updating the Finance/Accounting System to Precise Financials (to meet SOX requirements), updating current or developing a new Fleet Maintenance System, notification on 10K mandated vehicle safety checks will be timelier, developing technology to capture driver hours, the company will be more proactive in their scheduling of vehicles and drivers in their operations which results in more efficient day-to-day operations.
Implementation of a system or process that manages the distribution and collection of deliveries simultaneously within similar area zip codes.	Process	This strategy will aim scheduling of the acquisition and distribution of deliveries at a particular time in the same specific area. They plan to increase the miles of filled automobiles and minimize costs. This will also help the organization reduce their fuel cost and drivers' time. It will also help in minimizing the delivery time of shipments.
Implementing a strategy in the maintenance centers in which various maintenance procedures in the chain (diagnose-parts allocation-repairing or changing-notification) to carry out the vehicle maintenance procedure.	People	This strategy aims to increase the maintenance centers' work efficiency and complete their maintenance on time without any delays. This will increase the manpower and effectiveness of the maintenance centers. A large quantity of vehicles can be repaired in less time. And this will be more efficient for da- to-day procedures.
Implementing a strategy of entry portal that helps correct entry information and mistakes detection regarding the process and postal address can be fixed.	Technology	It decreases manual working and wages. This technology requires professional auditors who have a grip on working on portals. If any mistake occurs, it will automatically alarm the systems about incorrect price or code entries by this financial portal system. And save the time of the employees on searching of the problem. Because various checkpoints data is entered and if they don't match, it will create an alarm in the system that there is an issue in the shipment entry and where the problem occurs, which can be corrected at that exact point. This increases the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

4. Current IT Department Structure

The following figure shows the current IT department structure, depicts the roles and responsibilities of the IT department personnel and to whom they are answerable (Burton & Obel, 2018). First and foremost is the CIO (Chief Information Officer), the leader or head of the department with its two assistants, and supervises the eight helpdesk personnel and the two shift supervisors. They are daily or weekly answerable to the CIO. The shift supervisors further supervise two network engineers, seven programmers, a computer security expert, a web designer, and a financial system analyst.

5. New CIO Organization

First, let us discuss what the IT Department and the CIO Organization perform in an organization's roles and responsibilities. In a corporation, the IT department supervises networking technology's implementation and maintenance. Its primary purpose is to ensure the smooth running of the network. To maintain the network running properly, the IT department must determine and implement the correct hardware and software (Hsu et al., 2018). Like the web designer, network engineers, computer security expert programmers, and IT developers who develop technologies to create advancements in the processes involved in the freight services. Whereas in CIO Organization, the CIO directly reports to the CEO (The Chief Information Officer: A Review of the Role, n.d.). The CIO establishes and modifies strategic planning, systems, and practices related to the enterprise's technologies

.

IT developers were relatively slow in the development of applications, and then when the systems were eventually implemented, they did not represent what the customer wants or desired. It was an issue created by the IT department. The CIO team's responsibility is to recover this issue by confronting or meeting with the IT department to get to the core of the problem to resolve it. It is essential to analyze which processes or procedures are critical or need funding and which operations should be eliminated to save cost. Also, there were complaints from the financial bookkeepers that their IT system was slow, and the upgraded version was under process. CIO had to understand these issues and find effective measures to solve these issues, saving time and cost.

6. Key Services

The following table states the required changes (personnel or sub-departments) needed for a new CIO organization to work. This might be cost-consuming, but it will be beneficial for long-term benefits.

Key Service	State IT Strategy (section #3) /Key Service’s Relationship to IT Strategy
Example: do not use but leave it in the table when completing this section. In addition to the IT staff of a Compliance Officer	Meet compliance requirements by updating current technology or developing/acquiring new technology to meet those mandates. Adding this position will oversee any projects/personnel involved in any projects where compliance mandates are being implemented to ensure that all mandate requirements are covered in the software.
Addition of IT Collaboration Analyst personnel or IT specialist with strong business knowledge.	Company observers have played a prominent part in IT systems and processes and will keep playing a vital role in the future. However, this potential position would require the analyst to be a 'super' observer who not only recognizes technology or new process introduced and can apply it to the language of business but should also be an exceptional negotiator, partner, and agent of change. This analyst will help train the team members about new financial portal technology and how to use them to save time and cost for special training classes. This personnel will also explain how these technologies relate to their organization's growth, like the IT strategy of delivery and collection.
Addition of information technology survey/ inspection staff in the CIO staff	When new systems, processes, and technologies like the new technology portal system, are invented by the company or purchased, immediately implementing it is dangerous for the company and with severe consequences. As GGFRT has many information technology systems under updating or development, this expert team will survey it first before implementation to see if the desired results are achieved or not. This will reduce unnecessary damage repairing costs or errors in transactions or zip code recording.
Elimination of Web Designer position	As there is no website currently used by the company and in the future, this position is cost-consuming because a web design specialist is hired for this position and with a heavy salary. It is better to eliminate this position, which will result in the organization's favor.

7. New CIO Organization Structure

After the above addition and changes of the CIO staff members, the personnel's organizational structure is changed (The Roles and Responsibilities of Information System Department: A Case Study in Publication Firm, n.d.). The changes made in the previous structure are 1). An IT specialist with strong business knowledge will help the organization reduce training class costs, and the IT team members will be updated with the new IT technology and how to use it. It is a less time and cost-consuming strategy. 2). Adding an inspection staff which will inspect any new IT technology introduced for their specific departments. If any error occurs, they will stop it from implementing, and if the technology gives the desired result, it is accepted and immediately put under execution. This change will reduce extra damage costs for departments. This staff consists of 2-3 members, but these members should be specialists. 3). Removing the position of a web designer for the team. As mentioned above, the company is not using any websites recently. It will not be using them in the near future, so it is best to remove this position and save the wages and consume it in other beneficial positions.

According to the new organization structure, the newly added IT specialist will answer or report directly to CIO. And the new inspection staff containing two members will be answerable to shift supervisors if any error or damage occurs. These members are only active when any new technology is introduced or updated, and so their salary is equal to 1 web designer. Now there are 28 members in the new CIO team.

8. Key Milestones

During the change of the IT department into CIO organization, the key milestones for implementation of change are the following:

Key Milestone	Target Completion Date (list in chronologic order)	Issue(s)/Concerns Accomplishing the Milestone
Example: do not use but leave it in the table when completing this section. Hiring of the Compliance Officer	October 31, 2020	Finding a person with the correct skillset with a thorough understanding of both IT and the various agencies' compliance requirements may be difficult.
Eliminating a web designer	March 1, 2021	Although the company is not using websites currently but for international business strategy, not one but a group of web designers are needed. It is difficult to fire skilled personnel at a time of change and new growth of the organizational department, which plays an important role in the organization's success.
Hiring of IT Survey/Inspection Staff	May 20, 2021	It is challenging to hire skilled inspection staff in the market. Because the personnel must be a specialist in IT and have programmers and IT developers' skills, the initial cost will increase slightly.
Hiring of IT Collaboration Analyst	June 25, 2021	Hiring a specialist in IT Collaboration will increase wages cost. It is not easy to find a specialist who understands Information Technology and relates them to their IT and business strategies.

9. Conclusion

Changing of IT department into a CIO organization is a long and heavy procedure that requires lots of changes and advancements in their previous structures. To solve the issues of GGFRT mentioned in the case study, it is essential to have exemplary leadership and visionary management style to overcome the drawbacks of the old IT department so that it will not be repeated after the change. Different IT strategies are implemented to update or the old methodologies or technologies, which caused issues in the company. New services or personnel are added to the new CIO team to increase the new department's efficiency and effectiveness. If there are changes, there are also issues related to those changes, making it difficult for the change implementation. During the change analyzing the CIO should reflect on every aspect (positive and negative) of the change before adding it and also relate it to long-term benefits. CIOs have to wisely choose their team members to benefit from their department growth skills (Paton & McCalman, 2008). But if changes are made, challenges will occur internally and externally; a Chief Information Officer should be ready to face those challenges and take every possible step to mitigate the side effects.

References

The Chief Information Officer: A Review of the Role. (n.d.). ResearchGate. Retrieved February 13, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228919573_The_Chief_Information_Officer_A_Review_of_the_Role

The Roles and Responsibilities of Information System Department: A Case Study in Publication Firm. (n.d.). ResearchGate. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236676785_The_Roles_and_Responsibilities_of_Information_System_Department_A_Case_Study_in_Publication_Firm

Burton, R. M., & Obel, B. (2018). The science of organizational design: fit between structure and coordination. Journal of Organization Design, 7(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41469-018-0029-2

Covin, J. G., & Slevin, D. P. (1988). THE INFLUENCE OF ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE ON THE UTILITY OF AN ENTREPRENEURIAL TOP MANAGEMENT STYLE. Journal of Management Studies, 25(3), 217–234. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6486.1988.tb00033.x

Hsu, C.-C., Tsaih, R.-H., & Yen, D. (2018). The Evolving Role of IT Departments in Digital Transformation. Sustainability, 10(10), 3706. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103706

Ncube, L. B. (2010). Ubuntu: A transformative leadership philosophy. Journal of Leadership Studies, 4(3), 77–82. https://doi.org/10.1002/jls.20182

Paton, P. R. A., & McCalman, J. (2008). Change Management: A Guide to Effective Implementation. In Google Books. SAGE. Retrieved February 15, 2021, from https://books.google.com.pk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=HA0FQOWx8ngC&oi=fnd&pg=PR5&dq=articles+on+change+management&ots=DWtiUiTi2b&sig=QB7ThIEwlfZZ78XPA3jIooT1MiU#v=onepage&q=articles%20on%20change%20management&f=false