Human elements, due by Feb7th 19:00

Human Factors and Productivity (Week 1)
Success Factors in the IT Organization (Week 2)
People, Processes, and Technologies (Week 3)
IT Project Stakeholders (Week 4)

The final step in developing your strategy is to examine the various layers of the organization, and identify the issues and concerns that these layers have related to the IT organization and its projects. For this assignment, you will evaluate the issues and concerns regarding IT projects at all 5 behavioral layers of the organization. These layers include the individual, team, project, organizational, and business layers. For each layer, you will describe the issues and concerns that are important to the success of the business with regard to IT projects, and provide examples that demonstrate the importance of the issues and concerns.

The project deliverables are as follows:

Update the Human Element in IT Strategy document title page with a new date.
Update the previously completed sections based on instructor feedback.
Behavioral Layers
Evaluate the issues and concerns regarding IT projects at all 5 behavioral layers of the organization.

These layers include the individual, team, project, organizational, and business layers.

For each layer, describe the issues and concerns that are important to the success of the business with regard to IT projects, and provide examples that demonstrate the importance of the issues and concerns.

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Human Elements in IT Strategy document
Review the entire document for any changes and improvements that you would like to make.
All aspects of the document should present a cohesive strategy, and each weekly topic should coincide with the other weeks.
Ensure that this final version of the document is sufficiently detailed to allow the organization to confidently move forward with the strategy for taking the human elements of the IT organization into account during projects.
Any previous instructor feedback should be addressed with appropriate changes.
Be sure to update your table of contents before submission.

Running head: HUMAN ELEMENTS IN IT STRATEGY DOCUMENT 1

HUMAN ELEMENTS IN IT STRATEGY DOCUMENT 2

Human Element in IT Strategy

Destiny Barrera

Colorado Technical University

February 1st 2018

Table of Contents

Project Outline

Description of the Organization

Wal-Mart’s Information Technology

Wal-Mart’s IT Capabilities and Infrastructure

Human Factors and Productivity

Success Factors in the IT Organization

Success Factor Identification

Success Factor Contribution

People, Processes, and Technologies

IT Project Stakeholders

Behavioral Layers

Human Elements in IT Strategy

Project Outline

Description of the Organization

The organization selected for this project is Wal-Mart, Inc. Wal-Mart is a multinational retail company that is based in the United States. The company operates a chain of supermarkets, hypermarkets, and grocery stores in 28 countries, operating under 63 different names. As of 2017, the company had over 11,000 stores globally (Leonard, 2017). According to the Fortune Global 500, Wal-Mart is currently the largest company in the world in terms of revenue and also the largest private employer in the world with over 2.3 million employees. Wal-Mart’s United States’ investments account for the largest percentage of the company’s total revenue. In the U.S. the company operates the Walmart supercenters, Walmart discount stores, and the Walmart neighborhood market. The company has its stores in each of the states of the country where millions of customers can get nearly anything they need from a retail store (Leonard, 2017). Additionally, in the past few years the company has ventured into e-commerce offering online sales services for customers within the United States. To achieve this kind of success not only in the United States, but also globally, Wal-Mart, Inc. has been making good use of technology.

Wal-Mart’s Information Technology

As the biggest retail company in the world, Wal-Mart has managed to achieve a competitive advantage in the retail industry because of its unique philosophy with regards to the use of information technology. The company runs a centralized information system that connects all of its operations from across the world; all run from its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas (Buvat & Khadikar, 2015). The company has managed to develop a comprehensive IT personnel enabling the development of an information system that connects its merchants, employees, customers, and other stakeholders; thus, enabling the successful running of the business.

Wal-Mart has long been associated with home-grown innovations that it has developed due to its strategic utilization of information technology. For instance, the company was the pioneer of bar code scanning, which is currently being applied in retail stores from all over the world. The company was also the founder of analyzing point-of-sale information, an innovation that most retail companies across the world are now benefitting from. Apart from its own innovations, the company also applied other information technology innovations that help with its supply chain management.

Wal-Mart’s IT Capabilities and Infrastructure

Wal-Mart is not necessarily a technology company, but it is a company whose success has been enabled by technology. The company managed to use IT too its advantage through the development of a good IT infrastructure and capability. The company’s IT governance structure is an IT duopoly model where the business unit leaders and the technology leaders collaborate on major technology projects that help to promote the company’s operations (Nash, 2015). Additionally, the company has an individual IT department with IT staff who contribute to the company’s creativeness and innovativeness when it comes to technology. The company also has some data mining warehouses where most of the major technology projects are conducted. For these projects to be successful, the company employs diverse IT personnel that enhance knowledge sharing.

In conclusion, Wal-Mart is the perfect company to analyze as it has fully implemented an advanced IT department and gained the benefits of information technology for decades. As this project will demonstrate, Wal-Mart has fully implemented human factors in its IT strategy to enable to effectiveness of the processes and operations not only in the United States but also on the global market operations.

Human Factors and Productivity

Success Factors in the IT Organization

The critical success factors (CSF) in information technology refers to the factors that must be well developed for a business’s IT department to work effectively. Without the effectiveness of these factors, a business may never be able to align its operations with its IT strategy (Seddon, Calvert, & Yang, 2010). The following are some examples of some CSFs that can affect the Wal-Mart IT organization.

Success Factor Identification

Open communication lines: One of the key success factors for IT management and project development is the availability of open communication. When any kind of change is taking place in an organization, it is important to have open lines of communication. People need to be able to freely give their feedback on the IT system and communicate any challenges they may experience with the system (Trkman, 2010). Open communication can be made available through techniques such as surveys and interviews.

Business requirements analysis: before developing any form of IT projects in the organization, it is very important to have a needs assessment. Business requirements analysis is a process of identifying the areas of the business that would need to be improved so that the overall efficiency of the organization can be improved. Identifying the needs helps to ensure that the IT strategy is developed with a specific purpose.

Employee training and education: employee training is an important success factor in IT strategy. The employees are the main operators of a company’s IT department, including the softwares, the computers, and any other part of the organization that is run by the department (Thi & Swierczek, 2010). Therefore, part of the success of the department depends on how effectively they are able to run the IT systems.

Organizational protocols and governance structure: the protocols followed in an organization and the governance structures are the key to the success of an IT department. The kind of governance structure developed in an organization determines the decision-making models that are implemented within the organization. Therefore, the effectiveness of the management style will determine how effective the IT department is.

Measurement and reporting: it is important to constantly measure and report the progress and the effectiveness of the organization’s IT department. After a certain period of time, the IT needs of the organization could have changed or the implemented systems may not be as effective as they were expected to be (Thi & Swierczek, 2010). Therefore, monitoring the IT projects is critical to maintaining long-term success.

Company culture: company culture refers to the types of values and behavioral customs that are promoted within an organization. The manner in which the employees act or operate their day-to-day work is highly dependent on the culture of the organization (Trkman, 2010). The IT department is one of the many organizational areas that are highly affected by culture. Therefore, it is important to analyze the culture of the organization to ensure that it is conducive for the development of IT systems that promote business efficiency.

Success Factor Contribution

Open communication lines: open communication lines have a direct impact on the success of IT projects or IT management. This is because they open up a medium within which the employees can communicate the challenges they are going through and the areas of the IT department that might need improvement. The feedback given by the employees allows the management to make changes to improve the system; hence, enabling the success of the entire IT department or specific projects.

Business requirements analysis: requirements analysis contributes to the success of the IT department and projects by ensuring that all IT developments are meant to meet a particular need that develops the business. It is more likely for the employees to be more dedicated to the implementation of IT projects if they are helping to meet a need that they already had. This also ensures that the organization does not spend money on unnecessary projects in place of the ones that are really needed.

Employee training and education: Employee training and education helps to ensure the successful implementation and assimilation of the IT projects into the business strategy. The new IT systems can only be effective if the employees understand how to use them. Therefore, training must be done to show the employees how they can incorporate the business’s it systems into the daily business operations.

Organizational protocols and governance structure: the success of the IT department is highly affected by the decision –making model that is implemented in the organization. Implementing the right protocols and governance structures helps to ensure the success of the IT department and projects. This works by ensuring the implementation of the right decision-making model (Thi & Swierczek, 2010). For instance, the kind of decision-making structure used in an organization can help to determine the priorities to be made in the IT department to ensure that it is developed and is contributing to the organization’s success.

Measurement and reporting: measurement and reporting contributes to the success of IT because it enables change and improvement when needed. Monitoring the system helps the organization to easily identify whenever there are changes or improvements that need to be made for the entire IT department to move towards success (Thi & Swierczek, 2010). These constant improvements to the system make an impact with time and eventually the system can be as good as the organization needs it to be.

Company culture the culture implemented in an organization contributes to the success of the IT department by determining the kinds of behaviors that are exhibited by the organization’s members. For instance, the employees’ response to changes can be determined by the kind of culture that is promoted. In general, it is the employees’ actions that determine whether the IT department will be successful or not.

Human Elements in IT Strategy

Many organizations around the world are now using the IT strategy as a way of developing very comprehensive plans that help them in the outlining of how their technology needs should be met. Technology has been employed by many companies with the main purpose of meeting their business goals (Ahmadi, Salamzadeh, Daraei, & Akbari, 2012). The IT strategy can also be described as a technology strategic plan. In simple terms, it is referred as a written that usually contains the detailed multiple factors that affect a particular organization in terms of the use of technology and also the amount of investment in IT strategy.

The relationship of people to IT Strategy

People in organizations often have some very huge impact in the success or failure of an IT strategy. Some of the things about people that often affect an organizations IT strategy encompass the following elements;

Adaptability and Flexibility

Employees that usually remain flexible are usually more likely to create an environment that will remain open to communication and production. Such employees are also more likely to even embrace any changes such as the introduction of a new IT strategy. Adaptability and flexibility helps in the clarification of the IT strategy implementation and also helps in providing of a new model that ushers in organizational cultural diversity (Benitez-Amado & Walczuch, 2012). As we all know, culture in organizations usually helps in serving many purposes such as; helping in the creation of common rules and norms in the organizations and also in the unification of the organizational members.

Characteristics of stability

When people in the organization have a culture that is stable, then it is always very easy to support a systematic IT strategy implementation. A stable culture among people in the organizations helps in fostering of cooperation, partnerships, teamwork, and unity among the organizational employees (Ahmadi, Salamzadeh, Daraei, & Akbari, 2012). When there is a strong corporate culture among the people in the organization, then people will motivated to commit to creating a strong IT strategy. People will now be more focused on the implementation of a strong strategy instead of resisting it. They will work together to ensure that the IT strategy succeeds.

Goal

Unification

When employees in an organization have unified, flexible and strong cultures, they are able to approach the IT strategy implementation in a positive way through the alignment of the organizational IT goals. The IT strategy goals will clearly come into alignment when culture of the organization works on focusing on fulfilling the organizations primary mission and also on increasing productivity (Ahmadi, Salamzadeh, Daraei, & Akbari, 2012). The mission of a unified people in organization may for example be to ensure that the IT strategy being implemented works efficiently as it is suppose to do. By focusing on the organization’s mission on the IT strategy, a domino effect will be created in the organization with the main objective of ensuring that all the work that is being performed on the implementation of a strong, effective strategy is being undertaken by all the employees.

This will therefore ensure that the organizational culture is aligned with the IT implementation strategy at the most basic level. However, it is important to note that this type of unification will only work; employees must be able to align with and at the same time ensure that such unification is supported by processes, systems, procedures and policies found in the organization. If this is done, then a good strategic implementation will be achieved which will ensure that an organization’s cultural integrity is continued.

Process Implementation

For a better process implementation, then people in organizations must also ensure that they make strategy implementation and cultural alignment. Some of the processes that are usually utilized entail; the use of technology to help in the attainment of IT Strategy results and goals in the organizatio (Benitez-Amado & Walczuch, 2012)n. This will be especially very important when organizations will be working to meet the needs of their customers. In dealing with the customers, organizations must ensure that they have a strong IT strategy that will help them gain the trust of their customers. According to research, most people in organizations around the world usually neglect the culture process but put their focus on solving hard problems and also attending to the organizational needs. This is the gap that IT strategy always seeks to fill with the main objective of maintaining and upholding the strategies and culture of organizations.

Cultural Alignment

Organizations will only be able to operate efficiently in the global market if they align their culture with their IT strategy implementation. Alignment of culture with the organization’s IT strategy will enable leaders in these organizations to work both as a team and also individually especially when it comes to developing strategic IT initiatives. Development of IT initiative strategies may encompass; revamping the old IT strategies so as to continue delivering the best results for organizational services and products.

The relationship of processes to IT strategy

A process can be described as a series of steps or actions that are usually taken with the main purpose of achieving a particular end (Ahmadi, Salamzadeh, Daraei, & Akbari, 2012). With this in mind, it is always important for organizations to ask a question such as; what type of IT processes need to be put in place to ensure the smooth running of the organization? To answer this question, organizations should start by first of all ensuring that they identify the major, key steps. Once all the key steps have been identified, organizations can then focus on more detailed levels by ensuring that they look at the IT process interdependencies, variations, supporting processes and exceptions (Benitez-Amado & Walczuch, 2012). The next thing that organizations should do is then to start reviewing the identified IT strategy processes with the concerned stakeholders. Organizations should ensure that all stakeholders are aware of what is expected from them. It is important for organizations to listen to the views of the stakeholders especially in addressing any possible issues and gaps.

The other important process that organizations must ask themselves during the IT strategy processes is how these IT strategy matter to the stakeholders. Organizations should think of how best the IT strategy processes can be done (Ahmadi, Salamzadeh, Daraei, & Akbari, 2012). In thinking about these IT strategy processes, organizations should also consider the kind of processes that are currently being used to implement the IT strategy processes. These are great thoughts about the IT strategy processes that organizations should start instilling in their organizational managers. However, before organizations can even start going down that road, they must first of all ensure that they are actually using the correct IT strategy processes.

It is important to note that not all IT strategic processes are usually that important. However, some of the most IT strategic processes that are usually considered very important include; those that often underlie the business growth of an organizations IT strategy; those that are usually executed most of the time and finally those that usually determine the satisfaction of clients and also the cost of maintaining the organizations IT strategy. Organizational can always go ahead with the identified specific processes after establishing the importance of such processes in the formulation of the IT strategy.

Technology and the IT Strategy

There has always existed a strong relationship between an organizations IT strategy and technology. There has been a growth of interest about this relationship especially from senior managers from different organizations. Formulation of IT strategy has been changing with the recent introduction of new technology (Benitez-Amado & Walczuch, 2012). Many applications have now been developed to help organizations in formulating strong IT strategies. This means that organizations need to hire people who are technology know how. Such people will play a big role in driving the agenda of IT strategy in many organizations around the world.

If managers don’t have up to date technology knowledge, then it may be very difficult for them to develop strong organizational IT strategy. Failure to develop strong IT strategies may expose such organizations to great dangers such as hacking from attackers. It is important for organizational leaders to make formulation of a strong IT strategy a top most priority. To achieve this, leaders must be the ones at the forefront in getting to know about the current developments in the world of technology. Employees should be trained on how to use new advanced technological applications to develop strong IT strategies that will stand the test of time.

It is however good news because more and more senior managements have now started developing a strong interest in the development of stronger IT strategies for their organizations. This is actually a positive step towards the realization of strong IT infrastructures. There is a strong collaboration between the IT senior managers and the top management in most organizations today. Many organizations are now realizing the importance of having the right CIO in place to help in the development of a strong IT strategy using the latest technological applications. The CIO’s will play a pivotal and critical role in propagating the mission and visions of various organizations.

Human Elements in IT strategy document

Introduction

Information and technology (IT) are one of the critical elements in the current business world. The evolution of technology has given rise to globalization and now transaction of business activities across the world is a reality. The supply chain industry has boasted, goods and services are delivered on time irrespective of distance. Every company has a mission, vision, core values, goals and objectives to be achieved for a specific duration. The above-mentioned aspects are the fundamental pillars that separate a successful company from the rest; however, projected goals, mission, vision, goals, objectives and core values cannot be achieved minus human elements in the current IT world. The human factors in the IT sector play a crucial role in propelling the company to adopt and maintain current use of technology equipment that provides efficient and prompt services. A workable communication strategy links all the key players in the IT department, stakeholders, and other workers in the company to work as a team geared towards achieving a primary goal.

Human elements

The Chief Technology Officer (COT) is in charge of the IT team while the Chief Operating Officer (CEO) oversees the general operations of the company. The human elements are the main pushers of the agendas of the company, and without them, it is impossible to achieve the set goals and objectives of the organization. The CTO officer is generally a manager in charge of technology and always comes up with the necessary policies to tackle all the issues that a company faces. The technology-oriented application is specifically designed to steer the organization to achieve the mission, vision, objectives, core values and goals that the company targets. The CTO officer should have immense knowledge about the company’s operations. This executive, managerial position demands an up to date research, testing and overview of the IT systems to have the most secure network, equipment, and services (Medcof, 2008).

The IT strategy may also comprise of Chief Information Officer (CIT) in charge of data. Data is one of the most sensitive elements in the current information and technology world. Cybercrime is a challenge to all companies and government organizations. Cybercrime perpetrators invest all the latest technology in hacking vital information of companies to damage data as well as steal money. The most targeted organizations are government and financial. Cybersecurity Ventures projected that the cost of cybercrime would hit 6 trillion US dollars by 2021 from 3 trillion US dollars lost in 2015 (Morgan, (n.d). CIT officer should be well equipped with relevant knowledge and experience to ensure company’s data is protected from malicious users. The manager is responsible for providing his team has the best equipment and protection tools to quickly detect any malicious activities that may tend to expose data to hackers (Medcof, 2008).

Chief project officer

Technology world is very dynamic, and the company should always be proactive in adopting highly rated technology and also security tools. The process is critical in not only protecting company’s data but also ensuring operations are nit destabilized that may lead to loss of property. The project manager should be knowledgeable and has a deeper understanding of conducting research questions and data collection. Research is critical in aiding the company to know its significant weaknesses and focus on critical areas to make a valuable profit in the business industry. A company that focuses on research in the IT field has the best policies that the company adopts to improve delivery of services and create a positive image that propels a firm to have an added advantage against their competitors. The project manager is responsible for coming up with the best project in the IT strategy and forward to the CTO for recommendation to the CEO (Hendry, 2012).

Sales and Marketing

Department of sales and marketing has a general CEO who is in charge of the team. The sales and marketing manager primary intention is to ensure good and services produced by the company are well advertised to potential customers. The marketing team usually use electronic media, i.e., TV, Radio, print media newspaper, magazine, and online media such as websites and social media to market products. Sales and marketing manager is also in charge of ensuring the company not only uses the latest technology in advertising but the best technology to increase sales and pave the way for accountability and transparency. The main reasons why a business operates is to make a positive impact on the clients and for successful organization is to sale more leading to maximum profit (Hendry, 2012).

Human resource

The human resource leader is in charge of recruiting and assigning tasks to the entire team by the company’s goals and objectives to achieve the vision and mission of the firm. Human resource elements are in charge of identifying vacancies in the business, advertise the post, conduct interviews and choose the most suitable candidate who will propel the company towards achieving the specified duties and objectives to accomplish the mission and vision of the organization. The CEO in this field is tasked to train new workers on the critical goals of the company, their specific tasks and also another monitor their performance to ensure the company achieves the primary target. In the IT strategy, the HR team is in charge of human elements are competent, and also all the necessary equipment are allocated to the entire team to offer the best services identified by customers through timely and efficient services (Hendry, 2012).

The above mentioned stakeholders must focus on the following concepts in coming up with a workable IT strategic document;

Vision

Business organizations have a vision statement that guides and inspires employee of the team to work hard and follow the objectives of the company to achieve the primary goal within a specified time. A vision comprises of the general direction that the company plans by elaborating on what and why the employees and stakeholders of a company should focus on to achieve a specified goal and IT strategy document is not an exception (Ma’arif, 2008). For instance, in a society that supplies beverage and snacks products across the world, the IT strategy mission can be to provide IT the best performing IT operation identified for tactical thinking, in collaboration with business stakeholders and advanced IT solutions that supports the company’s mission. The company’s IT department will focus on critical services that will appeal to our customers, vendors, employees, and investors to ensure the company stands out as the best beverages and snacks distributors across the world. All the products and services should be well known to the world.

Mission

Vision always focuses on what a company targets to achieve in future while the mission, on the other hand, describes the main responsibilities of the company that all key players such as employees, investors, and employers must focus on today. The mission always elaborates what the company targets to do and the targeted clients and how. The mission is the primary foundation for achieving the vision by focusing on it (Ma’arif, 2008). For instance in our case study; the firm’s IT technology department should focus on introducing innovative equipment that will boost the production, marketing, and distribution of beverages and snacks products. An example of a mission: Provide, innovative, cost-effective and secure IT solution and consumer service to our company’s stakeholders. The primary clients of the beverages and snacks companies are the general public. The firm focuses on soft drinks in addition to snacks; therefore the information about the products should be promptly communicated through advanced technology-oriented channels, produced, marketing and also distribution to ensure the firm achieves the mission and eventually will lead to long-term achievement.

Core values

The core values of an IT company should align with the beliefs in addition to the behaviors of the organization aimed at achieving the mission and vision. The core values of the company usually describe the key areas that a company focuses on to offer the best services to the customers. The mission focuses on what employees, employers, and investors focus on a daily routine aimed at achieving a long-term goal branded as vision (Ma’arif, 2008). Therefore, core objectives can comprise of crucial elements such as leadership, integrity, accountability, and passion. The IT strategy document should align with the company’s core values. For instance;

i. Leadership: To shape a healthy future.

ii. Integrity: Be real.

iii. Collaboration: Influence collective advances.

iv. Accountability: Personal responsibility.

v. Diversity: Our products.

vi. Passion: Committed to offering the best services.

vii. Quality: Best services from production, marketing, and distribution.

SWOT analysis

Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) analysis in an IT strategy company is instrumental towards achieving a targeted goal and always gives the significant areas that workers, employer, and investors should focus. The company needs to know its weaknesses/strength researched through the feedback it gets from customers on their products and services (Barone, Yu, Won, Jiang & Mylopoulos, 2010). For example in the beverages industry, the strength of the company may be it provides unique products, well-established brand, good marketing, and PR strategy, while the weaknesses may be sugary products, low supply of products, etc. The opportunities may include; launching more retail stores, tapping on other snacks and health products. Lastly, the threats are usually things that pose challenges to the company for example; competitors and the surrounding environment.

Goal

Long-term goals are usually strategically designed on how a company plans to achieve its vision. The vision of the society is the primary objective why the organization was established. Goals of most of the companies are are achieved through the guiding policies, technology and human elements (Ma’arif, 2008). The IT goals of the organization may be;

i) Propel the company to success through IT to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of the firm’s activities.

ii) To provide the high-rated and latest IT products that align with the company’s mission. Vision to deliver secured services.

Objectives

Objectives are usually the drivers of long-term goals, for instance, a company may have a year objective to achieve specified goals. The objectives should be specific, achievable, measurable, timely and realistic (Ma’arif, 2008). For example;

i. Improve IT security threats management framework.

ii. Achieve at least 75 percent of company’s goals.

iii. Boost the company’s capacity of frequently monitoring IT environment.

iv. Introduce Cyber Security Assessment and Management (CSAM) tools.

v. Provide IT security and error through yearly assessment.

vi. Advance access and configuration management systems to protect IT resources and data.

Action Plan

The objectives of the IT strategy should have a detailed plan elaborating on how to achieve. The policy of each objective lies squarely on the simplicity or complexity. The strategic plan usually starts from vision and narrows down to short-term making the project more specific. Each goal should have an idea that that has detailed information on how to achieve a specified action. The number of details depends on the complexity of the objective and time (Ma’arif, 2008).

Communication strategy (Kerzner, H., & Kerzner, H. R. 2017).

Communication Strategy – IT Strategy

Stakeholders Audience

Objective
Message/ Why

Channel

Responsibility

Frequency /Date of completion

Project team

Main content (Submit draft information for coordination with the rest of team members.)

Electronic/Print/Online media.

Team leader

Monthly

HR team

IT Strategy design content.
(Submit draft of IT strategy content for input.)

Electronic/Print/Online media.

Team leader

Monthly

Managers

Submission of weekly reports
(To update team CEOs on the progress after receiving content from team leaders.)

Written

All members

Weekly.

Executive directors

Evaluation of IT strategy draft content from managers.

Written

Manager

Weekly

Project team

Submission of IT strategy content for approval and planning.
(Presentation of: deliverables for approval and also planning.)

Real deliverables

Per project

Team leader.