The personal/professional balance?

It seems to me that social media blurs the line between your personal life and your professional life. How do you manage a Facebook account when half of your friends are your business associates and the other half are your college frat buddies? Or worse, your EMBA cohort! What do you do when your boss sees the picture of you doing [fill in the blank] at a bar in Disney World? Personally, I like to have a little bit of a “safety zone” between my professional image and my personal life. How do you deal with this?

Twitterophobia?

I think it's great that Team 4 is pushing everyone to jump on the Twitter wagon, because otherwise I would have found every excuse not to join! Why do so many people, who are already used to being overly connected via the Internet, cell phones, Facebook, etc. still hesitant to Tweet? What is it about Twitter that scares away many modern day professionals?

For me I think it's the idea that Twitter is one more way to be connected when I am already overwhelmed with "connectedness" - I can't remember the last time I turned off my cell phone nor the last day I didn't check my e-mail at least ten times. Enough!

I do vastly appreciate the fact that Twitter has become an integral part of communication when disaster strikes - such as the recent earthquakes and tsunamis in Japan. Twitter has been priceless as a communications tool when other methods would have been too slow.

Overall, I think the "connectedness" Twitter provides is both the enticement and the repulsion - regardless, the benefits provided in times of crisis wash out all the negativity. What are your thoughts?

Tweeting

Thanks for Team 4 for getting us all out on Twitter! I was just out there for the first time and am not sure I have it mastered but know I will get there. Twitter is certainly one way to get a message out to millions of people but the self centered nature of so many tweets and benign chatter seems to take away from this potenially powerful tool. Is that a valid concern?

The China Stand

An undertone in the "Google In China" case was that Google's decision to stand by their principles was made easy because they did not have market share, nor were they deriving a profit from China. 

What do you think? Is there a price tag on principles? If China accounted for 50% of Google's revenue, do you think their principles would have been as important?

Timely Article from PC World

Gmail Disruption in China Could Signal Tighter Control
By Michael Kan, IDG News


This article was posted today (3/14) on PC World highlighting Gmail's continued access problems in China. They surmise it may be a reaction to the unrest in the middle east. So I ask you:

Will increased censorship "prevent the recent wave of politcal upheavel in the Middle East from breaking out at home"?

Does direct internal competition work or hinder?

In this weeks reading, the Google case describes a practice whereby Google executives would allow multiple teams work "full time"on competing solutions to one problem. I found this interesting. Is anyone familiar with this (or something similar) being done at their companies? If so, what is the reaction of the team on the losing end when the final decision is made and all their work is thrown away in favor of the other team? I would think that this would be a very discouraging blow and perhaps dissuade others from internally competing in a similar manor?? What do you think?

Uncertainty ?

When the business environment is uncertain it's difficult to define all the potential variables, develop a discreet set of scenarios, and limit a choice based on a clear view of the future.

That clear view of the future is the place where the standard MBA toolkit is applied; things like market research, value chain analysis, five-forces frameworks, or discounted cash flows.

If the future is really that uncertain does that mean we've spent the last two years learning tools that are no longer effective?

What's holding you back?

In my January issue of HBR magazine (thanks to Susan - as the subscription was a present from her) there is an article "Stop holding yourself back" It is not specific to IT, but I figured Gloria wouldn't mind.

Here is my take on a few of the self imposed barriers which unwittingly may sabotage our rise to leadership.

1) True leadership is about making other people better as a result of your presence.
2) If you want people to care what you think - first make it clear that you care what they think
3) Realize that colleagues, and competitors, are real people who may become your allies.
4) This is my favorite one...Find people who believe in your desire and ability to lead - and meet them on a regular basis for wine...and for some honest advice.

Thank you my friends for helping me to become a better me. Have I mentioned that I am glad I did NOT do an on-line MBA program?

5)Influence leads to power, not the other way around. Don't wait for formal authority to begin making changes. Start now.

Have you stretched in your leadership roles lately? do you have suggestions for the rest of us?

How do you breed innovation?

Google's culture is centered upon cultivating innovation. Managers within Google are thus saddled with the task of ensuring that workers, who are technically oriented, are also encouraged to be creative and pursue their ideas. Some of the management techniques meant to foster innovation mentioned in the article include a softer approach that is people-oriented (versus a dictatorial micromanagement style) and taking advantage of group knowledge through meetings and discussions.

Does your organization foster innovation and creativity? Or does it stifle it? How? What are the results?

Does your company have brand attributes?

In reading the Social Media Metrics book, there was an interesting passage where the author associates well known companies with their recognized brand attributes. It got me thinking about companies i have worked for in the past. Some that came to mind for me were:

BGE - Recent past - Expensive electricity, mean company....Now - customer focused, responsive
Constellation - Risky, pioneers
Legg Mason - Bill Miller, Value Trust, good investment/investors
T. Rowe Price - trustworthy
USinternetworking - innovators, sloppy spenders

I wonder, do you think your organizations have brand attributes? I know this is more marketing exercise, but, since there is a good range in size of companies for which the class works, I thought it would be interesting to hear what attributes the big and the not as big have attached to them. More to come on this one once we flesh out some of the attributes...

Why is IT any different than any other part of a company’s operations?

In this week’s case, Accenture invested in standardized IT equipment and processes and was able to reduce its costs and improve performance. This seems like Ops 101. You invest in better equipment and standardize your processes to realize economies of scale, lower your costs, and improve production. You make your investment decisions based on ROI. And if the ROI isn’t there, just outsource that part of the work as long as it’s not strategically necessary to keep it in-house. So is that all it takes to successfully manage IT initiatives? Or is there a larger strategic component?

Unintended Consequences

When Madrid became "comparatively expensive" they looked to Argentina. What happens to the local economies when these jobs move on to cheaper labor pools?

IT as a business within a business

One of the primary goals of Accenture's IT strategy at the beginning of its implementation was to think about IT as a "business within a business." There were several key points around which this strategy was designed, such as utilizing C-level executives from multiple departments to make IT-related decisions in line with organizatonal goals and tailoring programs tightly to end-user needs. Furthermore, Accenture wished to line up IT as a service provision center versus a cost center.

Accenture's initial perspective on IT seems to empower and provide flexibility for IT to be an effective and critical part of the organization's overall operations. Do your companies adopt the philosophy of IT as its own business entity within the organization? If so, how does this set-up affect how IT operates within the organization? If not, do you think this perspective would help or hurt your organization?

ERP and your organization....

As I read through the case this week and reviewed how Accenture moved their organization from a multi-platform, decentralized IT model to a centralized platform I found it interesting they were able to lower their operational costs per employee while improving their “customer experience” which included internal and external stakeholders.

To make this occur, they structured the organization with IT having a “seat at the table”, created high level steering committee’s to drive the new platform among other key organizational changes. What struck me was that process took 5-6 years to totally implement. In the business world this could be two new leadership teams.

So the question is who has experienced their organizations attempt to move to an ERP system and was it successful or was the project abandoned? If it was abandoned, who did the IT group report into as the project unfolded?

Technology Needs

Do we first develop a need and look for an IT solution or do we find a new technology and then develop the need? And Does it matter? Does everyone need an iPad? Or (much to Apple's pleasure) do we find a need for it?

Over Processed.......

The printer I was using on 7th floor near my desk just ran out of ink as I was printing my exec debriefs for our 2P weekly meeting. I had to call our onsite contracted help desk rep on the 2nd floor, Mike who transferred me to our global service desk in Chennai. Dolly in Chennai took my request and entered a JIRA ticket. Mike just arrived with the printer cartridge that's stored in the closet next to my desk, it's 6:30P. True story. Seriously?

I just ordered the coolest, cutting edge clothing fashion on my Commodore 64 – is it still cool?

Technology Deficit

As more companies become reliant on technology business intelligence to "Run the Engine" the risk of having outdated software becomes a relevant concern to many organizations. This is a term called "Technology Deficit".   What do your companies do when the technology departments insist their needs be met while the rest of the organization insists on tight budgetary controls?  Should there a portion of the Technology budget that is for internal upgrades as Technology sees fit?  Should that work compete with other business initiatives for software upgrades?  How feasible is this when the organizational structure has the CTO reporting to the CFO and cost containment is the main focus?

We have faced a situation where an older platform is running some our our main processing engines.  Facing memory leaks which causes unplanned downtime along with having that platform no longer supported by it's vendors are just two issues that result in sustaining outdated software.  An "all hands in approach to upgrading" means stopping business work that will generate revenue.  Technology will spend over 2 years working on that upgrade with one or two people at a time so that we don't interrupt the business delivery.

I am a firm believer in Technology department having not only a  means to upgrade, but also a voice in the company road map which can help drive Technology upgrades as part of a regular business process.  What are your thoughts?
More food for thought: http://tinyurl.com/4pz8427

Value Added Analysis

Its friday....and 75 degrees. I dont have any value to add, so here is a picture of a bunny with a pancake on its head....

Groupthink

As I viewed the multimedia case for this week, I found it very interesting, and I couldn’t help but wonder (a la Sex in the City)…

Has NASA fallen into the “groupthink” trap?

Groupthink is an occurrence where by a group comes to a unanimous decision about a possible action despite the existence of fact that points to another correct course of action. By definition, “groupthink” happens when there is a strong, persuasive group leader, a high level of group cohesion and intense pressure from the outside to make a good decision. I think we’d all agree that NASA is under intense pressure, and I think we’ll find from our role plays on Saturday, that there’s a strong, persuasive leader.

To avoid groupthink, it is important to have a process in place for checking the fundamental assumptions behind important decisions, for validating the decision-making process, and for evaluating the risks involved. It is important to explore objectives and alternatives, encourage challenging of ideas, have back up plans, etc. This is very similar to the ways to avoid the common decision-making traps that we discussed earlier in the year. It also reminds me of the 6 hats method of thinking that we learned from Tony’s class.

To Ken’s point below… maybe this is a “root cause”?

How might NASA address groupthink? Perhaps someone could be assigned the role of “critical evaluator”, where their task is to look for alternative explanations and challenge assumptions (kind of like NoNo?). Maybe there would just be too much to evaluate with something as complex as a shuttle launch?

If you were a “critical evaluator”, what do you think you’d do with the foam tile data?

Root Cause Analysis

How many problems do you encounter in a given day? One....Ten?

How many times have you seen that same problem in the past?

I’d bet we all encounter the same problems over and over again. The reason I suspect this is because in business we do not spend the time to solve the root cause. Instead, we just focus on fighting the fire and moving to the next.

In IT, root cause analysis is essential to providing a stable environment at the lowest possible cost. For example, my organization recorded 1,816 interactions and 738 incidents just last week. Can we reasonably expect to perform root cause analysis on every one of those? The answer is no. However, it would be interesting to know the number of interactions and incidents if we did a better job at root cause analysis.

Does your company or department solve the root cause of problems? We’ve learned several techniques during our MBA such as After Action Reviews and 5-Whys. What tools do you use to help?

Would you solve the root cause of problems if you worked at NASA?

Cool way to display data

Tufte would love this graphical way to display complex data:

http://www.nytimes.com/packages/html/newsgraphics/2011/0119-budget/index.html?hp

Jeopardy contest tonight!

 http://www.jeopardy.com/minisites/watson/

Facebook - play the IBM challenge - http://www.facebook.com/Jeopardy

Below from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/15/science/15essay.html?_r=1&hp
The implications of progress in A.I. are being brought into sharp relief now by the broadcasting of a recorded competition pitting the I.B.M. computing system named Watson against the two best human Jeopardy players, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.

Watson is an effort by I.B.M. researchers to advance a set of techniques used to process human language. It provides striking evidence that computing systems will no longer be limited to responding to simple commands. Machines will increasingly be able to pick apart jargon, nuance and even riddles. In attacking the problem of the ambiguity of human language, computer science is now closing in on what researchers refer to as the “Paris Hilton problem” — the ability, for example, to determine whether a query is being made by someone who is trying to reserve a hotel in France, or simply to pass time surfing the Internet.

IT adjuncts for decision making in times of stress

During an acute situation, one is forced to formulate decisions in absence of appropriate consideration for other potential alternatives. The resulting decision is frequently the one which promises the most immediate resolve, not necessarily the best option. Since tacit knowledge is easier to recall and apply than explicit knowledge under times of duress - it is best to use technology to provide the explicit knowledge data in those circumstances.

For example: 911 dispatchers have knowledge of the scenarios in which they are expected to respond, however the detailed step-by-step explicit knowledge content is quickly available and required to be referenced during a call - via algorithm formatted flip charts. Technology has enhanced this operation so the data is readily available (and current) via electronic solutions.

What in your life, be it personal or professional would benefit from having an IT solution inplace prior to an unanticipated time of stress?

Vision or Strategy?

All business leaders have a dream to move a company forward and be successful. Having the best product out on the market does help the dream to move the company forward. However, the company may have a great product on the market and still not be successful (Beta v. VHS). Another company may be very innovative and still not be successful. Apple has always been innovative with product launches. In the last couple years Apple appears to be an overnight success that was 30 years in the making.

So this leads me to a question after you take the product out of the mix;

What is the most important attribute that a leader can have, Vision or Strategy? What is the best way to develop this attribute?

Strategic value in M&A

Thanks to Katie, the attached web link should bring you to an article by McKinsey regarding IT's role in mergers and acquisitions. Quick read that should allow for better discussion on Friday.

https://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Understanding_the_strategic_value_of_IT_in_MA_2709

Pro's and Con's of KM

Our textbook defines knowledge management as "the processes necessary to generate, capture, codify, and transfer knowledge across the organization to achieve competative advantage." In what ways has knowledge management provided a competative advantage for your organization? Is there a downside?

Lindsay Lohan is Killing ME!

I thought I had it all figured out! Lindsay Lohan gets caught stealing some $80K necklace while out on parole. Surely her stock will go down, right? So there I go, selling short on 2000 shares of Lindsey. I'm thinking I'm in the money now right? .... Wrong, just when I'm sure I got it figured she finds a way to get out of her latest pickle and her stock shoots back up, ugh!

Yes that's right, I am buying and selling shares of my favorite Hollywood Stars and movies! Predictive Markets cover vast topics from economic data, Political Elections, Terrorist Attacks, down to Lindsay Lohan!

All this fun isn't just reserved for me, now I have done the class the service of signing all of us up to Hollywood Stock Exchange. Imagine, now instead of studying you too can trade on your favorite stars! just don't trade away my Cheech Marin stock, I got a good feeling about that one!

Take a moment to see how this works, below is directions on how to participate:

WWW.HSX.COM

Login:

User ID: EMBA-11

Password: loyola

Go ahead check out my portfolio, my wife only allowed me to put in 2 million dollars, so be gentle on those orders!

Evidence versus Intuition

Note... this post will show as made by Alex Wooden, but it's really by Paul (my invitation to this site expired, so I used his until I can get logged in)

Given the right facts most people can reach a good decision-- The dificulty is gathering the right facts at the right time. Our reading "Evidence-Based Management" probes at this issue and offers several specific guidelines to improve our ability to make better decisions. These are demanding evidence, challenging logic, encouraging experimentation, and practicing inquiry and observation. The purpose of these steps is to recognize that as managers we often have blind spots and incomplete knowledge. Thru the use of evidence-based facts we can improve our chances of making good decisions. However, how do we reconcile the conflict when the evidence presented doesn't fit with our personal experience? When our intuition and opinions are leading us to one decision, and the data points to another-- the information is incomplete and difficult to obtain and the demand for the decison is immediate-- how do you make the call?

The Wisdom of Crowds summary

Hey folks - I thought I would pass along the following really quick (I promise) book summary of The Wisdom of Crowds. We plan to touch on this a bit in our discussion of the Google Predictive Markets case this weekend. I found it interesting as it helps frame up the concept of predictive markets in a bit more detail than did the case. I struggled a bit in getting my head around the utility of predictive markets and the book summary helped quite a lot.

Don't worry - its a quick read.....more of a skim if you like.

Summary can be found here....

Predictive markets = Herd mentality

I struggle with the wide use and acceptance of a predictive market tool. Markets are nothing more than herd mentality. The more participants you have, the more you have in the herd. The larger the herd, the more area that will be covered and limited sense of direction will be obtained. The risk of stampid is only increased in times of crisis which would be the time that you need to be able to "predict" the future. To translate this into market speak, the herd will buy stocks when prices are going up, and sell stocks when prices are going down.

This is why a smaller specialized group of people are better at providing better reactions and predictions in my opinion. What do you think? Does it reflect herd mentality or not?

Thoughts from Team One

There are a multitude of frameworks presented to us in this module about data, data mining, and how to trransform data into wisdom. (Think Harrah's). As we move into the third week of class, Team One wanted to ask you to think about the recent article you read about predictive modeling and analytics. With those articles in mind, how are you or your company utilyzing predictive modeling or analytics? If you are not using one of these data mining techniques, how would you approach your boss or CEO to suggest the department or company engage in this practice? Remember, there are three style preferences of CEOs including visionary, interpersonal, and structured. What benefits would your comapany and/or division see from instituting analytics, modeling, or predicative calculations?

Social Media Frenzy

I must admit to my cohort of classmates that this is my first experience blogging. Of course, when I turned on my computer, I checked my e-mail, accepted a Linkedin invitation and checked that account. When I am done posting this blog, I will go check my Facebook account and pop into Blackboard to see if Tony has posted anything new. I sometimes find it overwhleming and feel compelled to be connected all of the time. As our society embraces the world of social media, my question is how are each of you managing it all? Are you ignoring it, embracing it fully, or doing something in between? And what are the benefits you are deriving from it?

Evidenced Based Clinical Decisions

Remembering one of this week’s articles, evidence based management; the Institute for Healthcare Improvement provides an article on the topic of Making Evidence-Based Clinical Decisions. (The full article can be read at the link provided.) The article lists a five step model for making evidence based decisions.

“Dr. Stuart Barton, a general practitioner in the UK (formerly clinical editor of the BMJ publication, Clinical Evidence), presents a five-step model for making evidence-based clinical decisions.

1. Recognize that the gap between one’s knowledge and the knowledge needed to answer the relevant clinical question requires consultation of another source.

2. Formulate a specific question to be answered by the consulted source.

3. Search for the relevant information, which might include print or electronic sources.

4. After consultation, a specific answer to the question must be formulated.

5. The answer must be applied to a care decision.”

The article goes on to state how difficult it is for a busy practitioner or clinician to practice this. Who has time to go through these steps? I too have seen the slow implementation of evidenced based medicine or nursing in my organization. Evidenced based nursing is occurring more frequently. Clinical guidelines have been another option for moving this way.

My question, what has been your experience in your business? How often is evidenced based management used where you work? Is it used daily, just big decisions or what have you experienced?

http://www.ihi.org/IHI/Topics/Improvement/ImprovementMethods/ImprovementStories/MakingEvidenceBasedClinicalDecisions.htm

Sunk Cost Trap and Governement Spending

While reading our class assignment for this week, I came to the point where the case discussed Sunk-Cost Traps. Unfortunately for me this happened to be at about the same time the President was completing his State of the Union speech. Immediately, government waste and our mounting budget deficit came to mind. I figure no one organization is better at getting caught in the sunk-cost trap then the US government. All this talk of wasteful spending and the foot stomping to put an end to it, make me laugh (or want to cry). Just last year congress pushed forward with the development of a second engine for the new JSF (Joint Strike Fighter). Investing an additional 3 billion dollars into a second engine for fighter jet that already has a good engine in place. The military and two Presidents (Bush & Obama) have spoken out repeatedly that this is a total waste of money, yet congress is convinced that this redundant engine will be money well spent. Clearly congress is not interested in listening to the experts. http://f135engine.com/


In my experience in the business world, major sunk cost traps get weeded out in budget cycles. While there are "initiatives" that leadership has put in place in the past that have definitely fallen into this category, my experience has been that these have been stricken during budget reviews and leadership change. What experiences have you had when faced with sunk cost trap situations? Are your businesses or organizations adept at getting by these types of traps?

Information Technology Silos

The Information Systems Strategy Triangle relates business strategy with IS strategy and organizational strategy. Successful firms carefully keep these three components carefully balanced while constantly changing business strategies to compete and remain competitive.

Within the Loyola fundraising area, we just went through a major software conversation one year ago. The new system was to provide us with more reports to analyze data which in the end would assist Loyola in raising more money. The system would also "talk" to the other systems on campus.

A year into it, we are still facing issues of the system not being fully supported by our IT department. So what? We are unable to run reports that we were told would be available to us. In the meantime, there have been adjustments to make quick fixes so we can analyze some data.

My questions to the class are: (1) Have any of you worked in this tye of situation where there are IT silos meaning there are different systems working within an orgainzation?; (2) How did you or your group move forward in getting the system to generate data for you to be successful? (3) Where in the decision making rocess did the business strategy, organizational and IS strategy get discussed or did it?

So where did they go wrong? What was the decision trap?

Several years ago, during the construction of the much anticipated Miller Baseball Park in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, someone, somewhere in the process made a bad decision.



It was July 14, 1999, when the Lampson "Big Blue" crane, one of the largest in the world, collapsed while trying to lift a 400 ton right field roof panel. The result of this bad decision: The opening of the park was delayed a full year. Physical damages to the facility that were estimated at between $50 million to $75 million. Worst of all was the death of three workers on the site. So what happened here? An executive from an engineering company that examined the accident explains the event as follows:


Clearly this was an error or lapse in judgment. Was it because the company was paying thns of thousands of dollars an hour to rent Big Blue? Was it because the project was behind schedule? There was a Discovery Channel program (Blueprint for Disaster, "The Collapse of Big Blue," July 14, 1999) that documented all of these questions, so we dont need to do that here. There is, however, one question that I think we can answer in the context of this week's reading, "The Hidden Traps in Decision Making." If the events of the day led to a decision trap, which trap do you think it was and why?

Blogging - Who does what?

As we head into Week 2, we're looking for each person in Team 1 to post a thoughtful question or comment that will start discussion.  Everyone else is invited to comment or to start a new thread of their own.  Generally we want to discuss topics related to either week 1 or 2. 

==============================================
Here's a description of the technology (the T in MOT) that sits behind Harrah's Total Rewards:
http://www.flatworldknowledge.com/pub/1.0/exploring-business/40286#web-40286

I'd like to talk about Harrah's pursuit of profits.  Do you think it is ethical to use technology such as that needed for their Total Rewards Program to target gamblers and promote even more gambling?  Do they get an unfair advantage by appealing so directly to people's desires?  I'm not sure. " Harrah's is working to automate table games such as blackjack by inserting radio frequency transmitters into gaming chips and installing an antenna under the table felt to record the amount of each wager. It hopes to test the system early next year." Really - are they watching every move?  Results from profitable customers shows: "Surprisingly, they’re not the wealthy high rollers to whom Harrah’s had been catering for years. Most of them are regular working people or retirees with available time and income and a fondness for slots. They generally stop at the casino on the way home from work or on a weekend night and don’t stay overnight. They enjoy the thrill of gambling, and you can recognize them because they’re the ones who can’t pump coins in fast enough."  Even if you support Harrah's, how do we know when we've gone too far? Is it truly buyer-beware?

http://www.informationweek.com/816/rbharrahs.htm

BTW, Harrah's changed its name to Caesars Entertainment 

http://www.caesars.com/corporate/index.html

With yearly revenues of at least $10.8 billion, the Nevada-based company is the largest gaming company in the world. 

Test

Testing

Welcome to our blog for EX707 Information and Technology Strategy!

Welcome!  The team posting questions each week is listed in the syllabus.  Let's talk!