Disruptive Innovation: Leadership and Organizational Dimensions
Restless Innovation: IT Strategy and Governance
Moderator:Dr. Gerry Gingrich, Professor
InformationResourcesManagementCollege
NationalDefenseUniversity, FortMcNair
Washington, DC20319-6000
202-685-2103 (o)
202-685-3974 (f)
Panelists:Dr. Robert D. Childs, Senior Director
InformationResourcesManagementCollege
NationalDefenseUniversity, FortMcNair
Washington, DC20319-6000
Dr.Mohammad Dadashzadeh, Director
Applied Technology in Business Program
School of Business
OaklandUniversity
Rochester, MI48309-4493
Dr. Sue Conger, Director
IT and IT Service Management Programs
College of Business
University of Dallas
Irving, TX75062-4736
The challenges of the 21st century – fiscal sanity, information overload, governing without boundaries, green leadership, and “expected surprises” – are keeping organizations on their proverbial toes. Strong leadership, smart management, and thoughtful strategic planning are all critical to the survival of today’s public and private organizations. What can we, the information technologists, do to help our organizations remain competitive, adaptable, and flexible in this challenging global marketplace? This panel will address possible solutions found in innovative and strategic applications of IT and IT governance.
Emerging technologies continue to proliferate, bringing the world closer together and increasing the number of connections and complexity of those connections – connections between individuals, entities, organizations, and nation states. Web 2.0 technologies, for example, increase our ability to build community, to collaborate, and to self-organize. These abilities, in turn, flatten organizations, open up their boundaries, and require new business models and processes. In this new organizational environment, information technologists are challenged as never before to be “restless innovators” in the search for IT strategies that will move their organization forward.
Changes in organizational processes and forms also demand innovative models of IT governance. The traditional dichotomy of centralization versus decentralization is antiquated foran environment thatdemands cross-boundary connections and communication. Even the federated model of governance seems a bit outdated and constraining. What we need are models of IT governance that align with the dynamic, interconnected marketplace and global environment in which our public and private organizations must compete.
For the first sixty minutes of this panel, four panelists will give presentations focusing on the strategic uses of IT and governance for the 21st century environment. Dr. Robert Childs will describe the technology partnershipsthat he has developed in support of his College’s strategic vision; he’ll also discuss the laboratories that have resulted from these partnerships. He will be followed by Dr. Gerry Gingrich, of the same institution, who will discuss the College’s strategic use of IT and the leadership and organizational variables supporting these strategies. Dr. Mohammad Dadashzadeh will consider the role of enterprise architecture frameworks in defining decision rights and accountability structures that must underlie company-wide IT governance. Dr. Sue Conger will conclude the formal presentations with a discussion of global, cross-functional, matrixed organizations and their governance as an emerging norm.
For the last thirty minutes of the panel, there will be a forum involving both the panelists and the audience. The forum is intended to integrate the presentations with the audience members’ experience. For example, how useful are the IT and IT governance models and strategies discussed in the panel for the audience members’ organizations? Are the lessons learned more useful in the private sector than in the public sector? Should they be modified for one sector or the other? If so, how? The panelists will facilitate the discussion.