Pages

December 31, 2021

Line-Staff Authority and Decentralization - Review Notes

Principles of Management Revision/Review Articles - List

Authority and Power


Without authority - the power to exercise discretion in making decisions and using resources, managers cannot achieve the goals or targets assigned to them. What kind of authority is provided in the organization structure to each manager and employee is an important issue to be determined in the organization activity.

It will be useful to distinguish between authority and power. Power is a much broader concept than authority.  Power is the ability of individuals or groups to induce or influence the beliefs or actions of other persons or groups. Authority is a concept used in organizations or theory of organizations to refer to the right in a position (and, through it, the right of the person occupying the position) to exercise discretion to making decisions relating to the group of people and activities they are asked to do.


Line authority gives a superior a line of authority over a subordinate.

Staff relationship is advisory. The function of person in a staff role is to investigate, research, and give advice to his line manager.

Line and staff are characterized by relationships and not by departmental activities. Today staff advice is far more critical. Operating managers are now faced with making decisions that require expert knowledge in economic, technical, political, legal and social areas. The expert knowledge is to be applied on vast amounts of data of published as well as interview data. Line managers may not have the time to conduct interviews or go through the published data. Hence services of staff are utilized by line managers to do the data collection, summarize it, analyze it and make recommendation which can be verified by the line managers to take decisions.


Completed Staff Work


The recommendations of staff work should be complete. Completed staff work implies the presentation of a clear recommendation based upon full consideration of a problem, clearance or discussions with persons importantly affected, suggestions about avoiding difficulties involved, and often preparation of the paper work - job descriptions, specifications and related directives - so that the managers can consider the proposal with less effort and if accepted the proposal can be put into effect. Many time-consuming conferences could be avoided or materially shortened if staff work were truly complete.

Staff Specialists - Giving and Taking Credit


Staff specialist must remember that the operating manager who accepts the idea actually bears responsibility for making it a success and is also responsible for solving the problems or difficulties or the confusion that appears during implementation. Hence a staff specialist cannot claim all the credit for himself for any implemented idea. But the staff must sell and keep selling itself to other executives. Staff is selling its service to the persons likely to use it. It is engaged in relating to people apart from developing the idea. The selling of an idea by staff does not mean that a manager automatically buys the idea. It is important for the manager responsible for a decision understand the disadvantages as well as advantages of the course of action proposed and the reaction of persons in his department to the proposals and then only take the decision.

The staff specialist must, through precept and example, convince his line colleagues that his prime interest is their welfare, and he must deprecate his own contributions while embellishing theirs.


Functional Authority


Functional authority is the right delegated to an individual or a department to control specified processes, practices, policies, or other matters relating to activities undertaken by persons in other departments.  It is delegated by a common superior of line managers to a staff specialist or a specific line manager. This is to take care of specialized knowledge, or to avoid diverse interpretations of policies.


Decentralization


Decentralization implies more than delegation. Delegation is generally discussed in the context of a superior and subordinate. But decentralization is a philosophy of organization and management. The management specifically specifies which decisions are taken at what levels in the organization and creates policies accordingly.

Personal Attitudes and Delegation

Certain personal attitudes underlie real delegation.

Receptiveness
Superior must have a willingness to give other people's ideas a chance. The subordinate's decision is not likely to be exactly the same a superior would have made. So a superior must be willing to accepts different decisions and complement them on their ingenuity also.

Willingness to Let Go
A manager must be willing to release the right to make decisions. The manager must concentrate on tasks that contribute most to the organization and assign other tasks to subordinates even though he could accomplish them better himself. It is law of comparative advantage in management.

Willingness to Allow Mistakes by Subordinates
Since everyone makes mistakes,  a subordinate must be allowed to make some, and their cost must be considered an investment in personal development.

Willingness to Trust Subordinates
Superiors have to trust subordinates to delegate authority to them.

Willingness to Establish and Use Broad Controls
The manager must have the ability to develop control points and measures that are broad and provide space for the subordinate to function as for his plan of doing things.

Principles of Management - Subject Update - 2021

Updated 1 Jan 2022,   9 February 2020,   3 Feb 2015, 6 Jan 2014, 12 Dec 2011

MBA Core Management Knowledge - One Year Revision Schedule

December 30, 2021

Principles of Management - Subject Update


Basic Chapter Summaries of Principles of Management Based on Koontz and O'Donnell's Book

4 Ps of Management - 4 Essential Tasks in Business Management
Provide value (Customers) - Procure inputs (Suppliers) - Process inputs (Produce output using  Production Facilities) - Provide Support to Production People  (Within the Organization)
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2015/05/4-ps-of-management-4-essential-tasks-in.html



2022

The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work


Teresa Amabile, Steven Kramer
Harvard Business Press, 19-Jul-2011 - Business & Economics - 256 pages

What really sets the best managers above the rest? It’s their power to build a cadre of employees who have great inner work lives—consistently positive emotions; strong motivation; and favorable perceptions of the organization, their work, and their colleagues. The worst managers undermine inner work life, often unwittingly.

As Teresa Amabile and Steven Kramer explain in The Progress Principle, seemingly mundane workday events can make or break employees’ inner work lives. But it’s forward momentum in meaningful work—progress—that creates the best inner work lives. Through rigorous analysis of nearly 12,000 diary entries provided by 238 employees in 7 companies, the authors explain how managers can foster progress and enhance inner work life every day.

The book shows how to remove obstacles to progress, including meaningless tasks and toxic relationships. It also explains how to activate two forces that enable progress: (1) catalysts—events that directly facilitate project work, such as clear goals and autonomy—and (2) nourishers—interpersonal events that uplift workers, including encouragement and demonstrations of respect and collegiality.

Brimming with honest examples from the companies studied, The Progress Principle equips aspiring and seasoned leaders alike with the insights they need to maximize their people’s performance.

2021


Management Articles for Starting the New Year

Five articles offer fresh thinking and insights for managing leadership transitions, bringing culture change, and learning through self-reflection.
MIT SMR Editors
December 27, 2021

Unpacking 5 Myths About Management

by Stephen Bungay
November 08, 2021

Summary.   
In science the key question is “Is it true?” In management the key question is “Does it work?” But context is critical: Just because an idea works in a particular case does not mean it is a universal truth.

If you set a stretch goal, make sure that the organization has some stretch in it, or it will break. To execute a strategy, you need a dashboard covering a wide range of performance indicators. If you treat those indicators as your strategic goals, be very sure that what you are asking for is what you want, because it is what you will get. Your business needs a value proposition for employees as much as it needs one for customers. In developing one, think hard about what “talent” means for you and do not forget that the real challenge is building an organization that enables average people to deliver an above-average performance. Develop good leaders, but do not neglect the skills of management, for no-one can perform if they do not have the right resources in the right place at the right time. Reduce bureaucracy to a minimum, but make sure you have enough structure to distribute decision rights in a rational way and enough process to enable people to know how the organization will work. To deal with external unpredictability, you need internal predictability.

Ambitions, targets, talent, leadership, and culture are all important. But in each case, make sure that you’re using them rather than letting them use you.

What Does It Mean to Be a Manager Today?


Summary.   
Managers are used  to manage and evaluate the performance of employees who could carry out a particular set of tasks. But three disruptive, transformative trends are challenging traditional definitions of the manager role: Normalization of remote work, automation, and changing employee expectations.  In a new era of management  it’s less important to see what employees are doing and more important to understand how they feel. To be successful in this new environment, managers must lead with empathy. This will require organizations and their HR functions to develop their managers’ skills, awaken their mindsets to manage in new ways, and create the capacity across the organization to enable this shift. The authors present a holistic strategy that invests in all three of those strategies.

What Does It Mean to Be a Manager Today?
by Brian Kropp, Alexia Cambon, and Sara Clark
April 15, 2021


New research on management from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including management strategy, accountability, design and succession planning.

What are the HSE's Management Standards?
Health and Safety Executive's Management Standards 
https://www.hse.gov.uk/stress/standards/

Build a Better Strategic Plan for Your Function
Turn your strategy into action with these tools and templates. 
https://www.gartner.com/en/insights/strategic-planning

The Four Ways of Organizing Innovation   (Interesting information)
May 17, 2021
https://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/the-four-ways-of-organizing-innovation/

Long-term resource planning in the high-tech industry: Capacity or inventory?
Dina Smirnov, Willemvan Jaarsveld, Zümbül Atan,Tonde Kok.
European Journal of Operational Research
Volume 293, Issue 3, 16 September 2021, Pages 926-940
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221720311243


ARE YOU DIRECTING OR REFLECTING?
https://kathleensmith.net/2021/04/09/are-you-directing-or-reflecting/

Employee Empowerment: Are You Doing it Right?
21 May 2021
https://blog.vantagecircle.com/employee-empowerment/

Strategic Empowerment in Human Resource Managementlocked
M. Taner Albayrak
 and Alper Ertürk
https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.013.161
29 November 2021
https://oxfordre.com/business/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190224851.001.0001/acrefore-9780190224851-e-161


Managerial control i.e. self-control and behavioral control, the moderating role
https://farapaper.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Fardapaper-The-combined-effects-of-managerial-control-resource-commitment-and-top-management-support-on-the-successful-delivery-of-information-systems-projects.pdf

Control Freaks or Good Fathers? Revealing Entrepreneurial Motivation through Managerial Strategies.
Posted: 28 Sep 2021 
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3931457

What’s Your Return on Visibility?
Companies need a new key performance indicator for advanced employee monitoring.
Michael Schrage
October 26, 2021
https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/whats-your-return-on-visibility/



2019

Our Favorite Management Tips from 2019
Harvard Business Review Staff
December 20, 2019
https://hbr.org/2019/12/our-favorite-management-tips-from-2019


https://bcghendersoninstitute.com/winning-the-20s-the-science-of-change-95db378c5d91

https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-evolution-of-problem-solving?gko=9a381

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-helix-organization

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/improving-the-management-of-complex-business-partnerships

https://hbr.org/2019/02/mckinseys-three-horizons-model-defined-innovation-for-years-heres-why-it-no-longer-applies

https://www.bain.com/insights/the-bain-micro-battles-system/

What Management Needs to Become in an Era of Ecosystems
Richard Straub
June 05, 2019
https://hbr.org/2019/06/what-management-needs-to-become-in-an-era-of-ecosystems


https://sloanreview.mit.edu/article/older-and-wiser-how-management-style-varies-with-age/

The Power of Shared Beliefs


"When shared beliefs exist, effort, obstacles, sacrifice, and hardships are no longer measures of the challenge, but, instead, rallying cries to come together and deliver as a high-performance team."  - Andrew Lambert, Vice President, Production and Supply Chain, SpaceX. In Preface to the book:


Building agile capabilities: The fuel to power your agile ‘body’
August 2019
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/building-agile-capabilities-the-fuel-to-power-your-agile-body

3 Elements of Trust
Positive Relationships - Good Judgement/Expertise - Consistency
Jack Zenger is the CEO of Zenger/Folkman, a leadership development consultancy.
Joseph Folkman is the president of Zenger/Folkman.
They are coauthora of the October 2011 HBR article “Making Yourself Indispensable” and the book Speed: How Leaders Accelerate Successful Execution (McGraw Hill, 2016).
https://hbr.org/2019/02/the-3-elements-of-trust


The 2 Cs of management excellence
What is good management? For years at McKinsey, we have applied science and measurement to that question.
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-organization-blog/the-2-cs-of-management-excellence

Improving the management of complex business partnerships
March 2019 | Article
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/improving-the-management-of-complex-business-partnerships




2018


The agile manager
July 2018 | Article
https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/organization/our-insights/the-agile-manager

Management Tools & Trends
Five key trends emerged from Bain's survey of 1,268 managers.
By Darrell Rigby and Barbara Bilodeau
April 05, 2018 
https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-and-trends-2017/

Getting Teamwork Right at the Top
C-suite teams with four specific traits beat the competition.
By Phil Kleweno, Imeyen Ebong and Paul Stansik
October 19, 2018 
https://www.bain.com/insights/getting-teamwork-right-at-the-top/

The Leader's Guide to Corporate Culture
Boris GroysbergJeremiah LeeJesse PriceJ. Yo-Jud Cheng
HBR Jan - Feb 2018
https://hbr.org/product/recommended/an/R1801B-PDF-ENG



Productivity Focus of Management  - Industrial Engineering

Taylor - Narayana Rao Principles of Industrial Engineering
_______________

_______________
Download full paper: Full Paper - https://www.xcdsystem.com/iise/abstract/File7673/UploadFinalPaper_2569.pdf

June 2017

Change Management - How to manage the eight ‘change personalities’ at work?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/careers/management/how-to-manage-the-eight-change-personalities-at-work/article35041096/

Making Decisions in Meetings
http://blog.lucidmeetings.com/blog/making-decisions-in-meetings

May 2017

How to Retain Employees Through 'Servant' Leadership
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/289730


April 2017

By studying and writing on Principles of Management, I became the original author of Principles of Industrial Engineering, a Management Subject with foundation in engineering.

Basic and Detailed Principles of Industrial Engineering
http://nraoiekc.blogspot.com/2016/07/basic-principles-of-industrial.html

http://www.xcdsystem.com/iise/abstract/File7673/UploadFinalPaper_2569.pdf


March 2017

Leaders have to manage the current activity to change it to make it better

http://www.managementexchange.com/story/first-line-manager-leaders-must-manager-lead


State of Readiness: Operational Excellence as Precursor to Becoming a High-Performance Organization

Joseph F. Paris Jr.
Greenleaf Book Group, 16-May-2017 - Business & Economics - 400 pages
https://books.google.co.in/books?id=hx6QDgAAQBAJ


March 2016

Seven Quality management principles (QMPs) 

by ISO  - Read them compulsorily if you have not read so far.
http://www.iso.org/iso/pub100080.pdf

One of the definitions of a “principle” is that it is a basic belief, theory or rule that has a major influence on the way in which something is done. “Quality management principles” are a set
of fundamental beliefs, norms, rules and values that are accepted as true and can be used as a basis for quality management.

The QMPs can be used as a foundation to guide an organization’s performance improvement. They were developed and updated by international experts of ISO/TC 176, which is responsible for
developing and maintaining ISO’s quality management standards.


The seven quality management principles



QMP 1 – Customer focus
QMP 2 – Leadership
QMP 3 – Engagement of people
QMP 4 – Process approach
QMP 5 – Improvement
QMP 6 – Evidence-based decision making
QMP 7 – Relationship management


These principles are not listed in priority order.  All are important and the relative importance
of each principle will vary from organization to organization and can be expected to change over time in the same organization.

Seven Principles of Supply Chain Management


Principle 1: Segment customers based on the ser­vice needs of distinct groups and adapt the supply chain to serve these segments profitably.

Principle 2: Customize the logistics network to the service requirements and profitability of customer segments.

Principle 3: Listen to market signals and align demand planning accordingly across the supply chain, ensuring consistent forecasts and optimal resource allocation

Principle 4: Differentiate product closer to the customer and speed conversion across the supply chain

Principle 5: Manage sources of supply strategically to reduce the total cost of owning materials and services

Principle 6: Develop a supply chain-wide technology strategy that supports multiple levels of decision making and gives a clear view of the flow of products, services, and information

Principle 7: Adopt channel-spanning performance measures to gauge collective success in reaching the end-user effectively and efficiently
http://www.supplychain247.com/paper/the_7_principles_of_supply_chain_management

Seven Principles of Change Management


Senders and Receivers
Resistance
Authority for Change
Value Systems
Incremental vs. Radical Change
The Right Answer Is Not Enough
Change Is a Process
https://www.prosci.com/change-management/thought-leadership-library/the-seven-principles-of-change-management


The APICS Principles of Operations Management consists of five classroom-based, instructor-led courses.

         The Principles of Inventory Management

         The Principles of Operations Planning

         The Principles of Manufacturing Management

         The Principles of Distribution and Logistics

         The Principles of Managing Operations


A HBR article on Negotiation
https://hbr.org/2003/10/nice-girls-dont-ask/

Free Open Access Book

http://open.lib.umn.edu/principlesmanagement/


TENDENCIES IN EVOLUTION OF 21ST CENTURY
MANAGEMENT
https://www.efst.hr/management/Vol20-Specissue/1-Buble%20-%20Management%20tendencies.pdf

THE PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL INNOVATIONS IN MODERN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTION.
Source: In the World of Scientific Discoveries / V Mire Nauchnykh Otkrytiy . 2014, Vol. 60 Issue 11.11, p4244-4261. 18p.
Author(s): Danakin, N. S.; Shutenko, A. I.; Ospishchev, P. I.

Developing a Theory and Philosophy of Management
Chapter 1 of Pearson Book
https://www.pearsonhighered.com/assets/hip/us/hip_us_pearsonhighered/samplechapter/0205088155.pdf


November 2015

Innovation Excellence requires Ambidextrous Management
http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2015/11/12/innovation-requires-ambidextrous-management/


September 2015
New and Updated articles in area

Systems Approach in Management - Very detailed treatment is now posted
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2014/12/systems-approach-in-approach.html

Execution is an important function of management

Planning and Execution - Theory and Practice
http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2015/09/planning-and-execution-theory-and.html

Resourcing is an important activity for all managers to accomplish set goals

http://nraomtr.blogspot.com/2012/03/resourcing-function-of-management.html


May 2015

Negotiation: What Makes the Right Business Deal
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianaltman/2015/05/05/negotiation-what-makes-the-right-business-deal/





Get the Boss to Buy In.

By: Ashford, Susan J.; Detert, James. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2015, Vol. 93 Issue 1/2, p72-79.

Middle managers  gather valuable intelligence from direct contact with customers, suppliers, and colleagues; they can often see when the market is ripe for a certain offering, for instance, or spot signs that a partnership won't work. But in a top-down culture, they may not voice their ideas and concerns -- and even when they do, they often struggle to persuade the people at the top.


The authors suggest that middle managers should tailor their pitch to the goals, values, and knowledge of decision makers; frame the issue to show how it supports a strategic goal; manage emotions (their own and their audience's); get the timing right by, say, attending to a boss's preoccupations or watching larger trends; involve others, both in and out of their networks; and  adhere to organizational norms, such as how leaders prefer to receive information.


MANAGING YOUR MISSION-CRITICAL KNOWLEDGE.

By: IHRIG, MARTIN; MACMILLAN, IAN. Harvard Business Review. Jan/Feb2015, Vol. 93 Issue 1/2, p80-87. 8p. 2 Color Photographs, 2 Diagrams.

Large-scale, sustainable growth is  possible when people take insights from one knowledge domain and apply them in another -- when deep technical expertise in one business unit is applied in a different business unit, for example, or when a best-in-class marketing group pulls a product development unit into the 21st century by sharing market insights gleaned from customer data.

The authors describe how to map your organization's strategic knowledge.  When knowledge assets are placed in a grid along two dimensions -- unstructured (tacit) versus structured (explicit) and undiffused (restricted) versus diffused (shared) -- it becomes easier to manage them for future competitive advantage.





Playbook - AMA NET

Interesting Source for Management Articles
http://playbook.amanet.org/

Managing Power Dynamics in International Negotiations
BY YADVINDER RANA
About The Author: Yadvinder S. Rana is Professor of Cultural Management at the Catholic University in Milan, Italy, lecturer on intercultural negotiation and influence in leading international business schools, and founder of Neglob, a management consultancy firm that assists companies in international negotiations and global teams performance improvement. For more information about Rana and his new book, The 4Ps Framework: Advanced Negotiation and Influence Strategies for Global Effectiveness, please visit www.neglob.com.
http://playbook.amanet.org/managing-power-dynamics-in-international-negotiations/




The New Rules of Motivation: Unleash Employee Reciprocity
BY RODD WAGNER
About The Author: Rodd Wagner is the New York Times bestselling author of the new book Widgets: The 12 New Rules for Managing Your Employees As If They’re Real People (McGraw-Hill, April 2015).
http://playbook.amanet.org/the-new-rules-of-motivation-unleash-employee-reciprocity/

Only 10% are great managers.
Around 35% OK.
http://www.fastcoexist.com/3044630/this-may-not-surprise-you-only-10-of-managers-have-what-it-takes-to-be-managers



Principles of Management - Subject Update - 2014


Updated 30 Dec 2021,  26 Dec 2019,  26 October 2019,  29 March 2019,  19 Sep 2017,  7 June 2017,  7 May 2017,  8 April 2017,   12 March 2017, 26 Mar 2016, 16 Feb 2016, 11 Dec 2015

December 29, 2021

Effective Organizing and Organizational Culture - Review Notes

Online MBA Management Theory Handbook 


People Organization is an intentional structure of roles various employees of an organization designed for effective and efficient performance of firm/company. There is material organization also which is an intentional structure comprising equipment, facilities, materials and other inputs. Individual employees are made responsible for using and maintaining certain equipment and facilities and to utilize materials and other inputs in working towards achieving goals of the organization through individual jobs assigned to them. 

The people organization must have certain persons who acts as decision makers in certain given areas of responsibility (function) and communicate their decisions to others. They need data for decision making, and there has to be arrangement to transmit data to them. In decision making and as well as data and information transmission, the role of equipment and facilities has increased in the recent days.

Principles of organizations must be put into practice in design of organizations and using them in daily operations. These principles are to be applied taking into consideration the unique features of each and every organization.



Some mistakes in organizing


Failure to plan properly

Failure to clarify relationships

Failure to delegate authority

Failure to balance delegation

Confusion of lines of authority with lines of communication

Granting authority without exacting responsibility

Responsibility without authority

Careless application of the Staff Device

Misuse of Functional Authority

Multiple Subordination

Misuse of Service Departments

Over Organization



Organization is a network of decision, communication and activity centers for coordinating efforts toward group and enterprise goals. To work effectively, an organization structure must be be understood and principles of making organizations work must be put into practice

Design of Effective Organizations


Design of Effective Organization depends on the objectives and goals of the organization.

Developing the Ideal Organization

Modification for the Human Factor

A plan of ideal organization will help in maintaining the actual organization whenever changes occur in personnel.

Avoiding Organizational Inflexibility


Signs of inflexibility
Reasons for reorganization
Need for Readjustment and Change

Organizations should continuously change in response to changes in customer needs and wants. An organization should not be allowed to become inflexible.

Avoiding Conflict by Clarification


Organization Charts
Position Descriptions
Need to Define Relationships
Goal Definition

Assuring Understanding of Organizing


Teaching the Nature of Organizing

Many organization plans fail because organization members do not understand them. The description of the organization plan in terms of organizational philosophy, programs, organization chart and an outline of job descriptions all help in making people understand it. In addition managers have to explain and teach the members through individual coaching, staff help or special meetings etc.

Recognizing the Importance of Informal Organization


Promoting An Appropriate Organization Culture


Culture is the general pattern of behavior, shared beliefs, and values that members have in common. Value can be defined as a fairly permanent belief about what is appropriate and what is not that guides the actions and behavior of employees in fulfilling the organization's aims. Values can be thought of as forming as ideology that permeates everyday decisions.

Changing a culture may take a long time, up to five to ten years. It demands changing values, symbols, myths and behavior. It may require, first understanding the old culture, then identifying a subculture in the organization that is appropriate and rewarding those living this appropriate culture. In other words, the new culture one wishes to bring in starts as a subculture. Espoused values need to be reinforced through rewards and incentives, ceremonials, stories, and symbolic actions.


Principles of Management - Subject Update


Updated 30 Dec 2021,  3 July 2020,  3 Feb 2015, 6 Jan 2015, 12 Dec 2011

MBA Core Management Knowledge - One Year Revision Schedule

December 20, 2021

Principles of Software Engineering

Software Engineering

Based on Book of Roger Pressman, Sixth Edition
Software Engineering Practice



George Polya outlined the essence of problem solving

1. Understand the problem
2. Plan a solution
3. Carry out the plan
4. Examine the result for accuracy

Same thing is expressed by Deming as PDCA - explained better plan, do, check and adjust.

Core Principles

The dictionary defines the word principle as "an important underlying law or assumption required in a system of thought."

David Hooker has proposed seven core principles that focus on software engineering process as a whole.

1. The reason it all exists.
2. Keep it simple, stupid
3. Maintain the vision
4. What you produce, others will consume
5. Be open to the future
6. Plan ahead for reuse.
7. Think

Communication Principles that apply to customer communication


1. Listen
2. Prepare before you communicate
3. Someone should facilitate the activity
4. Face to face communication is best.
5. Take notes and document decisions
6. Strive for collaboration
7. Stay focused, modularize your discussion.
8. If something is unclear, draw a picture
9. Once you agree to something move on; If you can't agree to something move on; If a feature or function is unclear and cannot be clarified at the moment, move on.
10. Negotiation is not a contest or a game. It works best when both parties win. (Management topic)

Principles of Planning


1. Understand the scope of the project
2. Involve the customer in the planning activity
3. Recognize that planning is iterative
4. Estimate based on what you know.
5. Consider risk as you define the plan
6. Be realistic
7. Adjust granularity as you define the plan
8. Define how you intend to ensure quality.  (Quality management)
9. Describe how you intend to accommodate change
10. Track the plan frequently and make adjustments as required.


Analysis - Modeling Principles


1. The information domain of a problem must be represented and understood.
2. The functions that the software performs must be defined.
3. The behavior of the software (as a consequence of external events) must be represented.
4. The models that depict information, function, and behavior must be partitioned in a manner that uncovers detail in a layered(or hierarchical) fashion.
5. The analysis task should move from essential information toward implementation detail.

Software Design Modeling Principles


1 Design should be traceable to the analysis model.
2. Always consider architecture of the system to be built.
3. Design of data is as important as design of processing function
4. Interfaces must be designed with care (both external and internal)
5. User interface design should be designed to the needs of the end user.  (Industrial Engineering - Human Effort Industrial Engineering).
6. Component level design should be functionally independent.
7. Components should be loosely coupled  to one another and to the external environment.
8. Design representations (models) should be easily understandable.
9. The design should be developed iteratively. With each iteration the designer should strive for greater simplicity.


Coding Principles and  Concepts


Preparation Principles

1. Understand the problem you're trying to solve.
2. Understand the basic design principles and concepts.
3. Pick a programming language that meets the needs of the software to be built and the environment in which it will operate.
4. Select a programming environment that provides tools that will  make your work easier. (Programming productivity - Industrial Engineering).
5. Create a set of unit tests that will be applied once the component you code is completed.


Coding Principles


1. Constrain your algorithms by following structured programming (BOH00)
2. Select data structures that will meet the needs of the design.
Understand the software architecture and create interfaces that are consistent with it.
4. Keep conditional logic as simple as possible.
5. Create nested loops in a way that makes them easily testable.
6. Select meaningful variable names and follow other local coding standards
7. Write code that is self-documenting.
8. Create visual layout (e.g., indentation and blank lines) that aids understanding.


Validation Principles


1. Conduct a code walkthrough when appropriate.
2. Perform unit tests and correct errors you've uncovered.
3. Refactor the code.

Software Testing Principles



Principles developed by Davis
1. All tests should be traceable to customer requirements.
2. Tests should be planned long before testing begins.
3. The Pareto principle applies to software testing.
4. Testing should begin "in the small" and progress toward testing "in the large"
5. Exhaustive testing is not possible

Improving testing is part of process improvement steps of Industrial Engineering (Operation Process Chart - Flow Process Chart)


Deployment Principles


1. Customer expectations for the software must be managed.
2. A complete delivery package must be assembled and tested.
3. A support regime must be established before the software is delivered.
4. Appropriate instructional materials must be provided to end users.
5. Buggy software should be fixed first, delivered later.


Seven basic principles of software engineering
Barry W.Boehm, 1983

A small set of basic principles. These seven principles form a reasonably complete set. These are:

(1) manage using a phased life-cycle plan.

(2) perform continuous validation.

(3) maintain disciplined product control.

(4) use modern programming practices.

(5) maintain clear accountability for results.

(6) use better and fewer people. (Industrial Engineering)

(7) maintain a commitment to improve the process.

The paper provides rationale behind this set of principles is discussed.  

Journal of Systems and Software
Volume 3, Issue 1, March 1983, Pages 3-24


SOLID - Five design principles in object-oriented computer programming


The principles are a subset of many principles promoted by American software engineer and instructor Robert C. Martin in his 2000 paper Design Principles and Design Patterns.

The SOLID concepts are

The Single-responsibility principle: "There should never be more than one reason for a class to change." In other words, every class should have only one responsibility.
The Open–closed principle: "Software entities ... should be open for extension, but closed for modification."
The Liskov substitution principle: "Functions that use pointers or references to base classes must be able to use objects of derived classes without knowing it".
The Interface segregation principle: "Many client-specific interfaces are better than one general-purpose interface."
The Dependency inversion principle: "Depend upon abstractions, [not] concretions."

The SOLID acronym and set of principles was formulated by Michael Feathers in 2004.


Principles of Green Software Engineering


Green Software Engineering is an emerging discipline. It is based on climate science, software practices and architecture, electricity markets, hardware and data center design.

The Principles are to be used to define, build and run green sustainable software applications.

Carbon: Build applications that are carbon efficient.
Electricity: Build applications that are energy efficient.
Carbon Intensity: Consume electricity with the lowest carbon intensity.
Embodied Carbon: Build applications that are hardware efficient.
Energy Proportionality: Maximize the energy efficiency of hardware.
Networking: Reduce the amount of data and distance it must travel across the network.
Demand Shaping: Build carbon-aware applications.
Measurement & Optimization: Focus on step-by-step optimizations that increase the overall carbon efficiency.

Asim Hussain, Green Cloud Advocacy Lead at Microsoft.



Ubiquity of Industrial Engineering Principle of  Industrial Engineering.


Engineering subjects belong to one engineering branch or other. Every #engineering branch has product design process, process design process, production process, inspection process, material handling process, storage process, equipment operating process, equipment maintenance process, equipment replacement process, equipment retirement process, reuse and recycling process.

Industrial engineers have to develop productivity science based on #productivity measurements for all engineering processes and output, do productivity engineering to improve productivity and do productivity management to plan, manage and realize productivity improvement. To do it, industrial engineers need to have the knowledge of the concerned engineering subject, process or output.
 #IndustrialEngineering



Updated on  21.12.2021.  9.12.2021,  1 June 2021
Pub 5 April 2015

















December 9, 2021

Managing The Corporate Blog for Content Marketing and Public Relations

 5 Reasons Why Your Corporate Blog Has Hit a Wall

Your corporate blog could one day lose its momentum.

By Chris Bibey December 5, 2021

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/395719


How do startups actually get their content marketing to work?

The best practices have been changing fast

Julian Shapiro•April 14, 2019

https://techcrunch.com/2019/04/13/how-do-startups-actually-get-their-content-marketing-to-work/

December 8, 2021

The Management of Information Systems




Computers and communication networks enable companies to compete in two primary ways (Porter, 2001):
• Low Cost—competing with other businesses by being a low-cost producer of a good or a service
• Differentiation—competing with other businesses by offering products or services that customers
prefer due to a superiority in characteristics such as product innovativeness or image, product quality, or
customer service

Usage of computers can lower the costs of products or services by automating business transactions, shortening order cycle times, and providing data for better operational decision
making. Since the 1980s, a flood of innovations in hardware as well as software have led to efficiency gains in manufacturing firms —such as shortening the time to develop new products with computer aided design tools; optimizing a plant floor process with software that implements a human expert’s decision rules; and speedily changing a production line with computerized planning systems based on sales information.


Managing IT Resources

Companies  in different industries  requires IT leaders who know how to effectively plan for and manage the organization’s IT resources, as well as IT-savvy business leaders who can
envision strategic IT utilization . Three types of IT resources are to be managed. 

TECHNOLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE 

Managing technology resources requires effective planning, building, and operating of a computer and communications infrastructure—an information “utility”—so that managers and other employees have the right information available as needed, anytime, anywhere. Computer users expect computers to be up and running, and networks to be available and fast, so that they can access software applications and data quickly and easily. Organizations now have high operational dependence on IT systems. If an information system fails for a minute or more, or online response time exceeds a few seconds, employees can’t get their work done and business revenues suffer.

The primary IT management role today is to manage the costs and vulnerabilities of the computing “utility”—the data centers and networks that provide access to business data and applications . However, while this is a critical IT management role, sometimes outsourced to IT vendors. 

Managing IT also requires identifying what new technologies to invest in and how to specifically tailor
these new IT solutions to improve the way a specific company does business. Effective management of the technology asset therefore requires not only skilled IT managers and IT professionals—the human resources asset—but also active participation by business managers as captured by the third IT asset: the business/IT relationship asset.

HUMAN RESOURCES 

Managing the people resources for any business function requires attention to recruiting, developing, and retaining the best talent available. Today there is a high demand not just for IT personnel with specialized technology skills but also for personnel who have both technology skills coupled with business knowledge and interpersonal skills. Business analyst and systems analyst roles require personnel who can understand the IT needs of workers in marketing, accounting, manufacturing, and other business functions, as well as knowledge of an industry (e.g., financial services or healthcare). IT professionals who have a business education, as well as technical skills, are therefore especially in demand for these types of roles. Business-facing positions such as these are also most effectively sourced by internal employees—not by employees of an outsourcing firm or by temporary external personnel.


BUSINESS/IT RELATIONSHIPS 

 How well an organization uses joint IT-business decision making for making investments in a firm’s technology assets is so critical today that there needs to be a “blending” or “fusion” of IT and the business. Achieving business value from IT investments requires aligned goals for strong working partnerships between business managers and IT managers  to develop the business case for
investing in new IT solutions and skill sets, for specifying the business requirements that will be used to design new IT applications, and for effectively implementing these new IT solutions so that the potential benefits become realized benefits.




Managing Information Technology, 7/E

Carol V. Brown, Daniel W. DeHayes, SLATER, North Shore Community College
Wainright E. Martin, William C. Perkins
ISBN-10: 0132146320 • ISBN-13: 9780132146326
©2012 • Prentice Hall • Cloth, 744 pp
Published 03/08/2011 •
Suggested retail price: $269.40

Table of Contents

PART I: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 1. Managing IT in a Digital World
Chapter 2. Computer Systems
Chapter 3. Telecommunications and Networking
Chapter 4. The Data Resource
PART II: APPLYING INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Chapter 5. Enterprise Systems
Chapter 6. Managerial Support Systems
Chapter 7. E-Business Systems
PART III: ACQUIRING INFORMATION SYSTEMS
Chapter 8. Basic Systems Concepts and Tools
Chapter 9. Methodologies for Custom Software Development
Chapter 10. Methodologies for Purchased Software Packages
Chapter 11. IT Project Management
PART IV: THE INFORMATION MANGEMENT SYSTEM
Chapter 12. Planning Information Systems Resources
Chapter 13. Leading the Information Systems Function
Chapter 14. Information Security
Chapter 15. Legal, Ethical, and Social Issues


Critical Success Factors of Business-managed IT: It Takes Two to Tango
Stefan Klotz,Markus Westner &Susanne Strahringer
Information Systems Management, 2021 
This paper identifies critical success factors of Business-managed IT based on case study results. Four groups of critical success factors emerge: 
(1) general approach to Business-managed IT/Business-managed IT strategy, 
(2) Business-managed IT project prerequisites/Business-managed IT team, 
(3) Business-managed IT project execution and outcome, and 
(4) information technology management for Business-managed IT. 
The results suggest that bilateral responsibility between the business unit and the IT organization is the most favorable governance option for Business-managed IT.
https://cogentoa.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/10580530.2021.1938300

The Right Mind-set for Managing Information Technology
by M. Bensaou and Michael J. Earl
From the Magazine (September–October 1998)
https://hbr.org/1998/09/the-right-mind-set-for-managing-information-technology

IT Systems Management, 2/E

Rich Schiesser, La Habra, California
ISBN-10: 0137025068 • ISBN-13: 9780137025060
©2010 • Prentice Hall • Cloth, 600 pp
Published 01/28/2010 • Instock
Suggested retail price: $64.99

Table of Contents

Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxix
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxxviii
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xli
Chapter 1 Acquiring Executive Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
            Systems Management: A Proposed Definition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
            Why Executive Support Is Especially Critical Today . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
            Building a Business Case for Systems Management . . . . . . . . . . . 4
            Educating Executives on the Value of Systems Management . . . . . 7
                        Three Universal Principles Involving Executive Support . . . . . . . .9
                        Developing a Powerful Weapon for Executive
                        Support–Business Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
                        Ensuring Ongoing Executive Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Chapter 2 Organizing for Systems Management . . . . . . . . . . 15
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
            Factors to Consider in Designing IT Organizations . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
            Factors to Consider in Designing IT Infrastructures . . . . . . . . . . . 19
                        Locating Departments in the Infrastructure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19
                        Recommended Attributes of Process Owners . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Chapter 3 Staffing for Systems Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
            Determining Required Skill Sets and Skill Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
            Assessing the Skill Levels of Current Onboard Staff. . . . . . . . . . . 35
                        Alternative Sources of Staffing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .39
                        Recruiting Infrastructure Staff from the Outside . . . . . . . . . . . .40
            Selecting the Most Qualified Candidate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
            Retaining Key Personnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
            Using Consultants and Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
                        Benefits of Using Consultants and Contractors . . . . . . . . . . . .47
                        Drawbacks of Using Consultants and Contractors . . . . . . . . . .48
                        Steps for Developing Career Paths for Staff Members . . . . . . .50
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Chapter 4 Customer Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
            How IT Evolved into a Service Organization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
            The Four Key Elements of Good Customer Service. . . . . . . . . . . . 57
                        Identifying Your Key Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
                        Identifying Key Services of Key Customers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .59
                        Identifying Key Processes that Support Key Services . . . . . . . .64
                        Identifying Key Suppliers that Support Key Processes . . . . . . .64
            Integrating the Four Key Elements of Good Customer Service . . . . 64
            The Four Cardinal Sins that Undermine Good Customer Service . . 68
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Chapter 5 Ethics, Legislation, and Outsourcing. . . . . . . . . . . 73
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
            Ethics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
                        The RadioShack Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
                        The Tyco Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
                        The WorldCom Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
                        The Enron Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Legislation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
                        Sarbanes-Oxley Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .82
                        Graham-Leach-Bliley Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
                        California Senate Bill 1386 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .84
            Outsourcing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Chapter 6 Comparison to ITIL Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
            Developments Leading Up To ITIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
            IT Service Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
            The Origins of ITIL. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
                        Quality Approach and Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .97
            Criteria to Differentiate Infrastructure Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
            Comparison of Infrastructure Processes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
            Ten Common Myths Concerning the Implementation of ITIL . . . . 102
                        Myth #1: You Must Implement All ITIL or No ITIL at All . . . . . .102
                        Myth #2: ITIL is Based on Infrastructure Management Principles . . . . .  . .103
                        Myth #3: ITIL Applies Mostly to Data Center Operations . . . . .103
                        Myth #4: Everyone Needs to be Trained on ITIL Fundamentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
                        Myth #5: Full Understanding of ITIL Requires Purchase of Library . . .  . . .104
                        Myth #6: ITIL Processes Should be Implemented Only One at a Time . . . . . . . .105
                        Myth #7: ITIL Provides Detailed Templates for Implementation . . .. . . . . . . . . .105
                        Myth #8: ITIL Framework Applies Only to Large Shops . . . . . .106
                        Myth #9: ITIL Recommends Tools to Use for Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . .106
                        Myth #10: There Is Little Need to Understand ITIL Origins . . .106
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Chapter 7 Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
            Definition of Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
            Differentiating Availability from Uptime . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
            Differentiating Slow Response from Downtime . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
            Differentiating Availability from High Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
            Desired Traits of an Availability Process Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
            Methods for Measuring Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
            The Seven Rs of High Availability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
                        Redundancy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .121
                        Reputation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
                        Reliability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .123
                        Repairability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
                        Recoverability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
                        Responsiveness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
                        Robustness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
            Assessing an Infrastructure’s Availability Process . . . . . . . . . . . 127
            Measuring and Streamlining the Availability Process . . . . . . . . . 131
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
Chapter 8 Performance and Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
            Differences between the Performance and Tuning Process and Other Infrastructure Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
            Definition of Performance and Tuning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
            Preferred Characteristics of a Performance and Tuning Process Owner . . . . . .  . . . . . 139
            Performance and Tuning Applied to the Five Major Resource Environments. .  . . . . . . 141
                        Server Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
                        Disk Storage Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
                        Database Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
                        Network Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
                        Desktop Computer Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
                        Assessing an Infrastructure’s Performance and Tuning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
            Measuring and Streamlining the Performance and Tuning
            Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Chapter 9 Production Acceptance. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
            Definition of Production Acceptance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
            The Benefits of a Production Acceptance Process . . . . . . . . . . . 162
            Implementing a Production Acceptance Process . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
                        Step 1: Identify an Executive Sponsor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .164
                        Step 2: Select a Process Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
                        Step 3: Solicit Executive Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166
                        Step 4: Assemble a Production Acceptance Team . . . . . . . . .166
                        Step 5: Identify and Prioritize Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
                        Step 6: Develop Policy Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
                        Step 7: Nominate a Pilot System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
                        Step 8: Design Appropriate Forms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
                        Step 9: Document the Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
                        Step 10: Execute the Pilot System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
                        Step 11: Conduct a Lessons-Learned Session . . . . . . . . . . .174
                        Step 12: Revise Policies, Procedures, and Forms . . . . . . . . .174
                        Step 13: Formulate Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
                        Step 14: Follow-up for Ongoing Enforcement and Improvements . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . .174
            Full Deployment of a New Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
            Distinguishing New Applications from New Versions of Existing Applications . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
            Distinguishing Production Acceptance from Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
            Case Study: Assessing the Production Acceptance Process at Seven Diverse Companies. . . .  177
                        The Seven Companies Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
                        Selected Companies Comparison in Summary . . . . . . . . . . .198
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Chapter 10 Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
            Definition of Change Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
            Drawbacks of Most Change Management Processes . . . . . . . . . 207
            Key Steps Required in Developing a Change Management Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
                        Step 1: Identify an Executive Sponsor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .209
                        Step 2: Assign a Process Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .210
                        Step 3: Select a Cross-Functional Process Design Team . . . .211
                        Step 4: Arrange for Meetings of the Cross-Functional Process Design Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
                        Step 5: Establish Roles and Responsibilities for Members Supporting the Process Design Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
                        Step 6: Identify the Benefits of a Change Management Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .212
                        Step 7: If Change Metrics Exist, Collect and Analyze them; If Not, Set Up a Process to Do So . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
                        Step 8: Identify and Prioritize Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
                        Step 9: Develop Definitions of Key Terms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .215
                        Step 10: Design the Initial Change Management Process . . .216
                        Step 11: Develop Policy Statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .221
                        Step 12: Develop a Charter for a Change Advisory Board (CAB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .222
                        Step 13: Use the CAB to Continually Refine and Improve the Change Management Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
            Emergency Changes Metric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223
            Assessing an Infrastructure’s Change Management Process . . . 224
            Measuring and Streamlining the Change Management Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
            Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228
            Test Your Understanding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
            Suggested Further Readings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Chapter 11 Problem Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
            Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
            Definition of Problem Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
            Scope of Problem Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 232
            Distinguishing Between Problem, Change, and Request Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233
            Distinguishing Between Problem Management and Incident Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
            The Role of the Service Desk. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236
            Segregating and Integrating Service Desks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
            Key Steps to Developing a Problem Management Process . . . . . 239
                        Step 1: Select an Executive Sponsor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
                        Step 2: Assign a Process Owner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
                        Step 3: Assemble a Cross-Functional Team . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
                        Step 4: Identify and Prioritize Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
                        Step 5: Establish a Priority and Escalation Scheme . . . . . . . .243
                        Step 6: Identify Alternative Call-Tracking Tools . . . . . . . . . . . .243
                        Step 7: Negotiate Service Levels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
                        Step 8: Develop Service and Process Metrics . . . . . . . . . . . .245
                        Step 9: Design the Call-Handling Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
                        Step 10: Evaluate, Select, and Implement the Call-Tracking Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
                        Step 11: Review Metrics to Continually Improve the Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
            Opening and Closing Problems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
            Client Issues with Problem Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247



Strategic Management of Information Systems


Front Cover
Keri Pearlson, Carol S. Saunders
Wiley, 2009 - 374 p

Information Systems Management In Practice

Author: McNurlin, C.B; Sprague, R.H.; Bui, T. (Eds)
Publisher: Pearson International Edition
Edition: 8

Year: 1998 (rev. 2009)
Pages: 597 pages
ISBN: 978-0-13-157951-4
Price: £52.99

BOOK REVIEW
The booksuccessfully guides the student reader through a basic introduction to aspects of information technology.  Using case-driven analyses in order to explore examples, the authors have striven to make sure that this edition is as comprehensive as possible. A chapter on the digital economy, for example, now reflects the changing face of distributed systems and distributed computing.

Whilst many varieties of networks – both
historical and modern - are discussed in terms of their utility and architecture, little is said about the
potential problems with the drafting and construction of such systems. This is possibly an area of
expansion for a future edition, and would be appreciated by both information management
professionals and others from the specialised areas of librarianship and archives, finance, and medical
sciences.

This text, then, should be recommended as a basic text for those unfamiliar with the work of the IS technician, the systems analyst or IT worker within business. As a reflection of the wider awareness of the importance of information and knowledge management in business, two chapters in particular stand out as key reading for the target student audience. Supporting IT-enabled collaboration, and knowledge management are wide topics with a firm basis in professional progression of IS. There are overlaps of subjects with many other disciplines, and within both science and business cases, these show the wideness and diversity of the relevance of these topics.

The construction of the chapters is a positive learning mechanism for students at any level. Case
studies show the direct life-relevance to the discussed IS mechanisms, and allow for a longer discussion
of relevant issues. Exercises and review – discussion questions at the end of each chapter look to
enhance reader awareness of the text, whilst encouraging individual development by readers seeking
out their own examples through business and other potential, real-life cases.

The overall presentation of the text is clear..   This is the book’s major approach: units as
chapters are a common concept, and whilst this book does not move away from that in any great
measure, it provides more case-study based content integrated within each unit than commonly found.
Overall, this is a thorough and standard text for basic awareness of IS management and issues
surrounding current IS practice. Its main highlights are the currency of the topics chosen, its proactive
approach to drawing the attention of the reader out towards real-life IS practices, and its firm basis of
observations rooted in practice.




Information Systems Management, 8/E
Barbara McNurlin
Ralph Sprague
Tung Bui
ISBN-10: 0132437155 • ISBN-13: 9780132437158
©2009 • Prentice Hall • Paper, 640 pp
Published 09/05/2008 • Instock
Suggested retail price: $259.20

Table of Contents

Preface
CHAPTER 1    Information Systems Management in the global economy

PART I    LEADERSHIP ISSUES IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER 2    The Top is Job
CHAPTER 3    Strategic uses of Information Technology
CHAPTER 4    Strategic Information Systems Planning

PART II    MANAGING THE ESSENTIAL TECHNOLOGIES IN THE DIGITAL ECONOMY
CHAPTER 5    Designing Corporate IT Architecture
CHAPTER 6    Managing Telecommunications
CHAPTER 7    Managing Corporate Information Resources
CHAPTER 8    Managing Partnership-Based IT Operations

PART III    MANAGING SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 9    Technology for Developing effective Systems
CHAPTER 10        Management Issues in System Development
CHAPTER 11        Managing Information Security

PART IV    SYSTEMS FOR SUPPORTING KNOWLEDGE-BASED WORK
CHAPTER 12        Supporting Information-centric Decision Making
CHAPTER 13        Supporting IT-enabled Collaboration
CHAPTER 14        Supporting Knowledge Work
CHAPTER 15        The Opportunities and Challenges Ahead

Glossary
Index

Ud 9.12.2021
Pub: 18.3.2016