Assignment 1

IT and Organizational learning:

Chapter 1

Introduction

•The book reviews from a personal perspective the explanation of IT, organizational learning, and the practical relationship between IT and organizational learning.

•Utilizes the RavellCorporation examples throughout the book

A New Approach

•Fix the Problem

•Gather Information

•Single loop and double-loop learning

•The Blueprint for Integration –day-to-day operations

•Enlisting Support

•Assessing Progress

Resistance in the Ranks and Line Management

•Resistance in the Ranks

–Political behavior can be detrimental to organizational learning effort

•Line Management to the Rescue

•Critical for success in transformational situations

•IT Begins to reflect

•Defining an Identity for IT

–Who we are and what is our purpose

•Implementing the Integration: A Move toward Trust and Reflection

–Through credibility

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

–Vitally important to integrate IT with various departments to increase adoption of organizational learning

References

•Langer, A. M. (2018). Information Technology and Organizational Learning. 3rd edition. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ISBN: 978-1-138-23858-9

Chapter 2

Introduction

•The IT Dilemma

•What are the perceptions and realities regarding the importance of technology from organization leaders, business managers, and core operations personnel?

•The assimilation of technical people into an organization presents a special challenge in the development of true organizational learning practices.

•IT and non-IT personnel must be integrated to enhance organizational learning.

Recent Background and IT in the Organizational Context

•Recent Background

–IT seen as a kind of variable that allows the business to reinvent itself.

•IT in the Organizational Context

–The impact it bears on the organizational structure

–The role it can assume in business strategy

–The ways in which it can be evaluated

–The extent to which CEOs feel the need to manage operational knowledge to manage IT effectively

IT and Org Structure

•IT can lead to centralization of organizational control

•IT can lead to decentralization of organizational control

•IT can bear no impact on organizational control

•Organizations and IT can interact in an unpredictable manner

•IT can enable new organizational arrangements such as networked or virtual organizations

The Role of IT in Business Strategy

Grid to assess the impact of IT operations and strategy based on specific questions:

Ways of Evaluating IT and Executive Knowledge of IT

•Ways of Evaluating IT

–ROI

–Cost allocations

–Statistical probabilities of returns

•Executive Knowledge and Management of IT

–Vision

–Insights

–Skills

–Core competencies

–Review: IT A View from the Top (table 2.1, 2.2, and 2.3)

Defining the IT Dilemma

•Wide range of inconsistent practices

–Should executives use IT as part of their business strategy and operations?

–Cultural assimilations lag behind the actual involvement of IT in the strategic direction of the organization.

•Recent Developments in Operational Excellence

–Decline in financial markets and mergers = opportunity for IT that reinforces the need for integration via organizational learning.

References

•Langer, A. M. (2018). Information Technology and Organizational Learning. 3rd edition. Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. ISBN: 978-1-138-23858-9