NOTES- SMIT (Book) BY-Vishnu

Sharma

UNIT 1- Introduction

Key issues in information systems management

Today’s businesses run on technology. Every client interaction and internal process relies heavily on the
computer systems that power everything. Management information systems (MIS) are a general term to
encompass the various technologies that exist in organizations today, as well as the personnel necessary to
manage it all. Common problems include failure to strategize, meeting organizational needs, hiring and
retaining good employees, staying current and integrating all your technologies.

Lack of Strategy

Many of the most common MIS issues can be traced back to a lack of a solid strategy. Information systems
leaders are well aware of the many tools available to gather data on their network. But putting that
information to use is often a challenge.

At one time, technology departments served as a separate operation, providing tech support and keeping an
organization’s server equipment running. Today, MIS leadership often sits alongside other business leaders,
working together to ensure that the technology being used supports the overall mission of the company
moving forward.

Meeting Organizational Needs

MIS plays an ever-increasing role in organizations, with professionals relying on technology for every aspect
of operations. Sales and marketing rely heavily on customer relationship software to track client interactions,
for instance, while accounting needs its own software for billing, invoicing and financial tracking.

With more than half of all companies now relying on big data analytics, MIS is playing an even more
important role. Before making a decision, today’s management teams are likely to pull reports on existing
activity to ensure they use facts rather than make educated guesses.

Attracting and Retaining Top Talent

For at least the past couple decades, the growth in technology has outpaced the number of people entering the
field. Over the past seven out of 10 years, IT positions have been in the top 10 of jobs with the most hiring
challenges, as documented by Manpower Group. The professionals most in demand include developers and
programmers, database administrators and IT leaders and managers.

Even as an increasing number of businesses shift to cloud software, the IT shortage continues to affect
businesses. If cloud technology providers have difficulty finding professionals to support the applications
their clients use, the businesses will see issues. Even with cloud technology, though, many organizations find
they still need to have an MIS specialist on staff to ensure the business meets its goals.
Keeping Up with Change

If one thing is for certain in information technology, it’s that nothing will remain the same for long. From one
year to the next, innovations mean that software needs to be upgraded and even replaced. In order to remain
competitive, businesses have to keep up with this, investing in software that will give them an edge.

As businesses respond to those changes, though, they face a challenge in getting employees on board with
adjusting what they do. At one time this was simply training employees to go from old paper-based processes
to using computers in the first place. Today, managers have to onboard new systems while ensuring they
provide employees what they need to be productive.

Integrating New Technologies

Although there are plenty of comprehensive solutions, businesses will inevitably find that they have multiple
types of software operating at once. This includes general administrative tools like Microsoft Office, as well
as specialized tools for accounting, customer relationship management and project-management tools, among
many others. Ensuring all these tools work together is essential since otherwise, employees will find they
have to duplicate processes.

Complicating matters is the fact that employees no longer work using just one dedicated computer on a desk
in an office space. Many employees work in the field, using laptops and tablets. You’ll also have numerous
cell phones in addition to the laptop and desktop computers your employees use, bringing challenges to
providing support without risking security.

The Role of CEO

Among all the strategists, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is the key person in strategic management. He is
the link between the board and top level executives of the organization.

1. Being the top most general manager of the organization, he integrates different functional areas of
management and visualizes the total organization.

2. He foresees the external environmental factors and their impact on the business.

3. He organizes the whole data, ideas and information and conceptualizes them.

4. The CEO looks forward based on his past experience and ability to understand the future changes.

5. He evaluates the present mission, objectives, policies and strategies against the future probable changes and
reformulates them, if necessary.

6. He formulates new objectives, policies and strategies as and when grand changes takes place in the
environment like economic liberalization and technological advancement.

7. The CEO provides information and data to the board regarding strategy formulation.

8. He provides the observations of strategy evaluation to the board and advises it either to continue the present
strategy or to reformulate it or formulate a new strategy.
9. The CEO provides data regarding external environment, to senior managers, guides and helps them in
formulating, implementing and evaluating and reformulating strategies at strategic business units are based on
the corporate strategies.

Sustaining Competitive Advantages of use of IT & Management

To analyse an organisations competitive advantage one just has look at Michael Porter’s competitive forces
model. 

Competitive advantage grows fundamentally from the value a firm is able to create to their customers.
Customers are willing to pay for value and superior value stems from offering lower prices than competitors for
equivalent benefits or providing unique benefits that more than offset higher prices.", 

This model below is the most widely used for understanding competitive advantage.

From this model an organisation achieves a snapshot of itself, its competitors, and the environment.

 In Porter’s competitive forces model, the strategic position is identified by the competition of existing /
traditional direct, new market entrants, substitute products, customers, and suppliers.

Porter's Generic Strategies

 The evolution of information has certainly altered how managers throughout business see the role of
Information Systems. The value of information is now recognised. Furthermore, it is recognised that
information is a depreciating asset and must be treated as a resource that the organization could / should use in
its business. 

One can utilise information systems for competitive advantage by identifying how the systems can enhance
core competencies. Consumer behaviour is more dynamic than ever. It is no longer static and businesses need
to evolve and be innovative and up to date if they want to position themselves above the rest.

An organisation's returns on investment are often linked to strategic business lines. Information systems can
improve the overall performance of business lines by enhancing synergies, utilising Client Relationship
Management (CRM) applications, BI Tools for enhanced analytics and core competencies.

 The following applications can assist businesses in obtaining a competitive advantage:

 CRM applications assists businesses in understanding and managing their customers.

 Social Engagement (SE) Tools – provide positive and negative sentiments from comments made on
Twitter, Facebook, Helopeter, etc. This feedback can be acted upon timeously and assist in strategic
business decisions.

 Marketing Tools like Microsoft Dynamics Marketing (MDM) that can assist in building marketing
campaigns, measure success/failure of marketing campaigns, reports to assist business with marketing
strategies, etc.

 Business Intelligence (BI) Tools – assist the business in analysing Sales, and key business information
via Dashboards and Reports. This financial information which is pulled out of a Data warehouse, can be
analysed and used by businesses for strategic planning and analysis.

 HRIS application enabling talent management, HR metrics and a complete HR Solution 

 Information systems that allow for the sharing of knowledge across business lines enhances competency and
provides the business with a competitive advantage over its rivals.

Within any business information management is one of the most important areas of competitive strategy. The
accurate management of customer information is paramount to the optimisation of a customer’s life cycle
within the company, including their spend with the organisation.

Certain organisation’s competitive strategy includes the upselling and cross-selling of customer product
benefits. Information management systems that are companywide allowing all departments to access the same
set of customer information in real time. Without such access and single view, the profits and retention efforts
gained through the upselling and cross selling of customer departments would not be possible.

 If one looks at traditional environments outsourcing shared business units such as Finance, for example and
concentrating on core business. ICT has evolved into a similar model with "The Cloud" in terms of business
concentrating on core business and not spending too much on IT infrastructure enabling one to use software as
and when required.

IT & Intensive Strategic Growth

At an Operational level, there are four broad strategies namely:

a. Integration strategies

b. Intensive Strategies

c. Diversification strategies

d. Defensive strategies

1. Integration Strategies: These strategies are used when company wants to expand its business and to increase
their market share but not to diversify.

2. Intensive strategies: These strategies require intensive efforts to improve the competitive position of the
firm.

3. Diversification strategies: When the current product lines of the company are not profitable then the
company can resort to expand its business, such strategies are called as diversification strategies.

4. Defensive Strategies: These strategies are implemented to reduce the risk of loss by selling or regrouping the
businesses which are at loss.

Intensive Strategies: These strategies are implemented when a company wants to expand its market reach or
its product lines. Such strategies require intensive efforts so as to improve the competitive position of the
company with the existing or new products. While implementing such strategies, Companies basically wants to
expand their scale of operations. Thus, if a firm enters a new market, develops a new product or develops its
own capabilities, then the firm is undertaking intensive strategies. These strategies helps in enhancing the
efficiency and effectiveness of the existing as well as the new products by adding value to these products and
therefore increasing sales and revenues of the firm. These strategies also help in fast growth and thus making
the company stronger and competitive. Following are the Intensive strategies:

1. Market Penetration 2. Market Development 3. Product Development

1. Market Penetration
Market penetration strategy is used to increase the market share for the existing products or services in
the existing markets. This strategy requires intensive and focused efforts for increasing the market share.
This strategy can be used alone or in combination with other strategies. This strategy enhances the
market share by implementing the innovative and efficient strategies so as to make the existing product
more successful and attractive. It includes offering wide sales promotion items, increasing the number
of sales persons, rising advertising expenditures, or extensive publicity efforts. It carries very low risk,
therefore is the most preferred Intensive strategy.

This strategy involves selling more to existing and new customers who are in the same marketplace but
while implementing such strategy organization need to be aware of the factors that has made the product
a success, otherwise the image of the existing product can tarnish. One drawback of this strategy is that
it requires heavy investment and rigorous efforts.

There are four approaches that can be adopted while implementing this strategy:

 Retain or Increase product’s market share:-

This can be attained by grouping various competitive pricing strategies, advertising, and sales
promotion.
 Dominate growth markets:-
To dominate the growth market, company has to identify a new demographics for the existing
successful product and then to define the strategy to aggressively market the product to the new
demography.
 Reorganize a mature market by driving out competitors :-
To remain in mature and saturated market, organizations needs to adopt novel and innovative
approaches. This involves aggressive promotional marketing and price strategy that helps in
driving out the competitors. In the mature market, one cannot focus on demographics. Therefore
the only way left out in such markets is to drive out the competitors.
 Increase existing customer usage:-
One can also penetrate market by influencing the existing customers to use the existing products
more frequently. To do this, company can use various strategies such as adding value to the
current product, loyalty schemes etc.

Example:
Apple is implementing this strategy of market penetration as one of the important strategy for gaining
growth. It focuses on selling more of its current products in the existing markets to gain larger market
share. For instance, Apple uses this intensive strategy by selling more of its iPads and iPhones in its
current target markets. Apple applies this strategy by adding more authorized seller into its current
markets which helps in penetrating in the markets where Apple has not gain a significant position.
 Under this strategy, Apple is also promoting its products through various webpages and websites and
media outlets, thus helps in broadly capturing the market by encouraging more people to buy Apple
products. This intensive strategy of covering more customers in the current markets enables apple to
reach at large number of market segments.

2. Market Development:
Market development strategy involves introducing the existing products and services into the new
markets. It is a two step process. It starts with the market segmentation. Segment is a small section of
the overall market and one need to identify the market segment which is worth pursuing with the help of
market research. (Source: http://www.free-management-ebooks.com/faqst/ansoff-03.htm) Once the
market segment is known, then next step is of developing a promotional strategy to penetrate in the
market. It is somewhere similar to market penetration but in market development more focus is given to
establishing presence in the new markets.

Market development strategy can be achieved in following ways:

 New Geographical markets:

This involves selling the existing product or service to the new region, country or continent. Risk
is involved in this strategy if one could not use its well-known sales channels in the new market.
 New product dimensions or packaging:
This strategy includes repacking the product so as to open up in the new market. For example: a
company that sold bottle of the Shampoo could make it available in smaller packaging and could
develop a suitable brand image in the domestic market. One should consider the cost involved in
the packaging and the requirements of the new markets so that changes can be made according
to the new market.
 New Distribution channels:
This involves identifying new distribution channels in order to be in more reach to the
customers. For example: many companies have changed them from high street retailers to the
internet retailers so as to provide 24x7 services to the customers.
 New market segment created by different pricing:
This strategy incorporates different pricing policies to create a new market segment. A good
example of this strategy is Adobe Photoshop. It reduced its original price by a significant amount
by creating a new segment by offering new product with limited functions.

Example:
Apple implements the strategy of Market development as one of the intensive strategy for growth. It
includes creating new markets for the existing products. Apple implements this strategy of market
development similar to market penetration where it authorizes the new sellers in the markets where
Apple has not made its presence yet. Therefore, apple focuses on this strategy only in the developing
markets. It also focuses on this strategy by developing new products like Apple Watch which is
completely a new product line for the Apple and thus has made its presence in the smart watch segment.
This strategy helps in expanding the market reach of the company by offering new and unique products
through market development.

3. Product Development:
Product development strategy includes improving or modifying the existing products so as to increase
the sale of the existing products and services. In simple terms, this strategy deals with improving the
quality of the products and therefore, increasing the sales and revenues of the products. The quality of
the existing products can be improved by modifying the existing products. This strategy includes
intensive research and development costs.
Product development involves following strategies:-
 Research and Development:
This strategy requires the use of the new technology, process and material to modify the existing
product and service and to offer something new to the customers. For example: Mobile
manufacturing companies offer new models in every three months or modify the existing models
with the help of the technology so to add newness to the products.
 Assessing customer needs:
To modify the existing product and service, company need to assess the customer needs, so that
accordingly they can make the change. Customer needs can be assessed by data collection by
using various qualitative and quantitative tools such as questionnaire, observation method etc
because successfully understanding and interpreting the customer needs are important for the
company.
 Brand extension:
Brand Extension strategy incorporates the launch of a new product with the existing brand name
i.e. to use the established brand name for the new products so as to quickly capture the market
share. In this strategy, the existing brand leverages its customer and brand image to the new
product. There is a high risk associated with this strategy because if the new product becomes
unsuccessful, it will also tarnish the image of the existing product. To make this strategy a
success, one should use the extension when there is a logical association between the original
product and the new product but still it is hard to predict that brand extension will be a success
or not.

Example:
Apple focuses on the product development as one of the main intensive strategy for the growth of its
market. It offers attractive and innovative products in the existing markets to increase its market share
and performance. Apple focuses on this strategy through innovation in its research and development
processes. It considers innovation as one of the most important growth strategy which is also specified
in their mission and vision statement. For instance, Apple is continuously doing innovations in their
iPhone, Apple Watch and iPad. Moreover, Apple is also developing new innovative products for its
mobile market. These new and innovative products helps apple to generate more revenues, thus leading
to growth of the Apple.

Strategic Management
Introduction

A strategy is an action plan built to achieve a specific goal or set of goals within a definite time, while
operating in an organizational framework.

According to Rajiv Nag, Donald Hambrick & Ming-Jer Chen, “Strategic management is the process of
building capabilities that allow a firm to create value for customers, shareholders, and society while
operating in competitive markets.”

Strategic management is the ongoing planning, monitoring, analysis and assessment of all necessities an
organization needs to meet its goals and objectives. Changes in business environments will require
organizations to constantly assess their strategies for success. The strategic management process helps
organizations take stock of their present situation, chalk out strategies, deploy them and analyze the
effectiveness of the implemented management strategies. Strategic management strategies consist of
five basic strategies and can differ in implementation depending on the surrounding environment.
Strategic management applies both to on-premise and mobile platforms.
 The process of strategic management entails −

 Specifically pointing out the firm's mission, vision, and objectives

 Developing the policies and plans to achieve the set objectives

 Allocating the resources for implementing these policies and plans

Concept
Strategic management is based around an organization's clear understanding of its mission; its vision for
where it wants to be in the future; and the values that will guide its actions. The process requires a
commitment to strategic planning, a subset of business management that involves an organization's
ability to set both short- and long-term goals. Strategic planning also includes the planning of strategic
decisions, activities and resource allocation needed to achieve those goals.
Having a defined process for managing an institution's strategies will help organizations make logical
decisions and develop new goals quickly in order to keep pace with evolving technology, market and
business conditions. Strategic management can, thus, help an organization gain competitive advantage,
improve market share and plan for its future.
Importance
In business, strategic management is important because it allows a company to analyze areas for
operational improvement. In many cases, they can follow either an analytical process, which identifies
potential threats and opportunities, or simply follow general guidelines. Given the structure of the
organization, a company may choose to follow either a prescriptive or descriptive approach to strategic
management. Under a prescriptive model, strategies are outlined for development and execution. By
contrast, a descriptive approach describes how a company can develop these strategies.

Role of IT in Strategy Management

1. Release Control/Configuration Management – One Version of the “Truth”, particularly critical if

incentives and rewards are planned to be tied to the data.

2. Scalability Across the Organization, Including Remote Sites – From collecting data, to interpreting
and analyzing performance, remote locations will be easier to engage through a shared interface, rather
than chasing email exchanges.

3. Repeatability – Each time your monthly or quarterly meeting comes around, a system will ensure the
preparation, meeting, and follow-through are consistent, no matter how foggy the memories of the
practitioners!  Of course, report generation will be snap once the reports are configured for your needs.

4. Resilience to Staff Changes – This goes for Leadership as well as change agents – When new leaders
arrive, you expect they will want to make some changes in direction, but building the process into a
system ensures they won’t have to change the way it’s managed.  When change agents leave, a piece of
the process will leave with them if their know-how isn’t built into the business rules of the system.

5. Standardization – The look, feel, and interface of the process will be identical throughout the
organization, facilitating speedier learning, retention, and mobility of the practitioners.
6. Organizational Learning – A system will allow newcomers and seasoned staff alike to learn the
process consistently from one place, at their own pace and convenience.  This will save on chasing the
few experts around for their ‘tribal knowledge’ on how things work.

7. Real-Time Availability – Enables Execs and Senior Managers the ability to tap into organizational
performance as it suits them, rather than waiting for the monthly meeting, or tracking down
performance data manually on-demand.

8. Integration – Often the data is in functional silos, while the insights, decisions, and actions need to be
cross-functional.  Consolidating your performance management information into a tool brings
integration benefits and opportunities for cross-functional insights that may not otherwise be possible.

9. Trending/History – Similar to the benefits of integrating your performance information across your
lines of business, the ability to view performance easily over time, and to go back to previous meetings
and analysis to recall the rationale for past decisions, is valuable.

10. Security/Backups – Like any IT system, once the information is consolidated in one place, it’s much
easier to protect the content from intruders, as well as ensure recovery when disasters strike.

Strategy Management Issues

The five most common challenges in executing a strategic plan are:

1. Poor goal setting.

Strategic goals are often large and complex objectives that almost always require many resources
scattered across many departments and locations to accomplish them. Establishing clear goals across
teams will result in more clarity on priorities and responsibilities.

2. Lack of alignment.

Even with proper goal-setting, teams and people can be challenged with a lack of alignment that
typically causes prioritization issues and collaboration conflict that can derail the day-to-day work to
achieve the strategic goal. The biggest cause of strategic misalignment is the nonstrategic work that
people are so used to doing. Often nonstrategic objectives become the priority, as they are routine and
often the most easily attained.

3. Inability to track progress.

Many organizations are still using spreadsheets to track objectives. This can work between a manager
and employee, however, these systems do not make it easy to aggregate results or create transparency.
Worse, their use limits the ability to real-time manage the attainment of strategic goals. 

4. People not connected to the strategy.

People in general like order and routine, so we are more likely to fall into an operational tactical focus
where our efforts can result in immediate results. Unfortunately, strategic goals are rarely this easy and
small in scope, so how do we get people working differently? The best way is to connect people more
closely to strategy by aligning professional goals with personal interests. For example, learning new
skills, having more responsibility, working with different people and teams, working outside their
department on what we refer to as “strategy teams.
5. No measurements or leading indicators.

The old proverb, “You manage what you measure,” is paramount to strategy execution. Without
measurement, how do you manage the people and issues that can derail a strategic goal? You must set
measurable goals, track them and manage them having leading indicators like predictive analytics
stimulates the management discussions at all levels.  

Strategy Management for IT Services

Strategy management for IT services is a process of defining and maintaining the perspective, position,
plans, and patterns (which constitute the 4 Ps) of an organization with regards to its services and
management of those services. The purpose of strategy management for IT services is to make sure that
a strategy is defined properly, maintained, and managed adequately to achieve its purpose.

Objects:-

 A statement that clearly expresses the vision and mission of the service provider, which is reviewed
on a regular basis. This constitutes the perspective of the service provider.

 A proper definition of the services that will be provided by the service provider, to what market
spaces they will be provided to, and the strategies by which the competitive advantage of the service
provider will be maintained. This constitutes the position of the service provider.

 The production, communication, and maintenance strategic planning documents of the service
provider. This constitutes the plans of the service provider.

 A definition of how exactly the service provider will consolidate itself to allow the business
objectives to be met. This is a pattern of the service provider. An organization works because of a
pattern of action.

Concepts:-

It is important first to understand that a service strategy is not the same as an ITSM strategy. The
following differences exist between them.

 Service Strategy

This is a strategy provided by the service provider to define and execute the services which meet the
business objectives of the customer. The Service Strategy is a subset of the IT strategy for an IT
service provider.
  Service Management (ITSM) Strategy

This is the plan for identifying, implementing, and executing the various processes used to manage
services that have been identified in a service strategy. The ITSM strategy will be a subset of the
service strategy in an IT service provider.

 The key process activities are:

Stages of IT strategic management 

Stage 1: Setting the Goal

The first stage of strategic management is to set the goals your company wants to achieve. The goals will include
both the short-term and long-term goals of the organization. Share these goals with the entire organization and
explain how each goal will impact the organization’s future. This will give each team member a sense of purpose
and meaning to their job. One must also make sure that there are individual goals for every department and team.
These should all combine to arrive at the organizational objective.

Stage 2: Internal and External Environment

The second stage involves gathering as much data and information as possible. This information will be an
integral part of identifying the organization’s mission and vision. The mission component describes the
company’s business and everything related to the products, customers, markets, values, employees of the
organization, etc. The vision component answers the question: What does an organization want to become?

Stage 3: Situation Analysis

After identifying the mission and vision component of the organization, the next stage arrives, where the
organization has to assess its current situation in the market. This stage involves evaluating the internal and
external environments of the business and analyzing its competitors. This assessment will include available
resources and those that need to be acquired. Companies must also decide where and how different levels of
management will implement the strategies.

Stage 4: Strategy Formulation

A Situation Analysis is followed by the creation of long-term goals and objectives. These long-term objectives
indicate how a company can improve its competitive position in the long run. In any goal-oriented organization,
strategies are chosen at three different levels: Business level, corporate level, and global/international level. One
must keep in mind that these strategies must not cost a company heavily. They must also not have many
potentially negative consequences.

  

Stage 5: Strategy Implementation

Even the best strategic plans will give the best results when executed so that it successfully creates a competitive
advantage for the company. At this stage, the managerial skills are of utmost importance rather than
using analytics. Communication is essential at this stage of strategic management because all departments in a
firm must support new strategies for its effective implementation. Strategies are useful only when implementing
them properly. There must be an alignment between strategy and company dimensions like organizational
structure and resource allocation.

Stage 6: Strategy Monitoring

After implementing the strategy, managers must monitor it constantly to make it successful. Due to the dynamic
conditional, managers must do a SWOT analysis that prepares the organization for any new strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that may arise. The other important part is to prepare a supporting plan.
Organizations must undertake various activities to make the strategies work well. These actions must also be
taken and ensured they help make plans work.

Stage 7: SWOT Analysis

SWOT analysis is a very crucial element in strategic management that most organizations forget about. It helps
the organization identify its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. Also, it helps prepare the
organization for its future by detecting and analyzing the internal and external environments and other factors
that may impact the business. It is not enough to do this analysis, but companies need to take corrective action
wherever necessary. Weak elements must be rectified or replaced so that the organization can progress without
obstacles.

UNIT 2- Strategic Planning of IT

IT Strategic Plan
Introduction

Strategic planning comprises the procedures of defining objectives and creating strategies to attain those
objectives. A strategy is a long term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, as differentiated from
tactics or immediate actions with resources at hand.

 The reason for strategic or long-range planning is to assist the company in establishing priorities and to better
serve the needs of the stakeholders. A strategic plan must be flexible and practical and yet serve as a guide to
implementing programs, evaluating how these programs are doing, and making adjustments when necessary.

A strategic plan must reflect the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and wants of the developers and meld them along
with the company's purpose, mission, and regulations into an integrated document. The development of a plan
requires much probing, discussion, and examination of the views of the leaders who are responsible for the
plan's preparation. However, more often than not, the development of the plan is less complicated than is the
implementation.

Implementation, in essence, pulls a plan apart and diffuses it throughout an organization. Every unit within the
organization which is involved must then accept the plan, agree to its direction, and implement specific actions.
In order to effectively and efficiently implement a plan, all individuals involved in its implementation must
function as a whole or the plan is destined for failure.

Components

1. Define a Vision

The most important component of any IT strategy is vision; if you don’t know where you are going, how can
you ever get there? The CIO, along with technology leaders, needs to come up with a vision that outlines where
the organization is currently, where it aspires to reach with respect to IT, and what measures the company has
to take to get there.

2. Build an IT Strategy Roadmap

Once the vision has been established, a clear roadmap needs to be built that is framed by what you’ve come up
with. The IT roadmap will lay out the steps the organization has to take in order to drive more value from IT,
stay ahead of trends, and achieve competitive advantage while improving customer experience all along the
way.

3. Maintain Complete Awareness

No IT strategy can be successful unless the board, executive team, and business unit leaders have a thorough
understanding of the emerging technologies and their potential to impact the organization. Being aware of the
latest technological innovations and having a tech-driven mindset will go a long way in ensuring the success of
the IT organization.
4. Business Alignment

An IT strategy is not actionable if it doesn’t take into account the objectives of the entire organization. Given
how deeply integrated IT is with every aspect of the enterprise, alignment of IT goals with business goals is
crucial so that the IT department understands what the company intends to achieve, and chart a path that
contributes accordingly.

5. Instill Guiding Principles

Every organization is built based on a specific set of value statements or guiding principles and the same holds
true for the IT department as well. It is important for an IT plan to state the core beliefs and values that are part
of the IT foundation – principles that are enduring, distinctive, and never change.

6. Financial Evaluation

No IT strategy is complete without knowing what funds the organization has, and what funds it would need to
get where it’s going. Based on past investments and future projections, organizations need to come up with
a financial assessment of IT systems and processes, so they can gain much greater control over their
organization’s performance.

7. Understand Your Competitive Advantage

In a world where competition is intense, an IT strategy should also mention what the organization is better at,
with respect to its competitors. This can help organizations put in more time, money, and efforts in
strengthening their competitive position, and ensure they always have an edge over others.

8. Map Out Short-Term Objectives

Another important aspect of a successful IT strategy is short-term objectives. An IT strategy should clearly state
what the organization is looking to achieve in the short-term. Goals can include assessing the current IT
landscape, identifying non-value adding systems and processes, strengthening access control measures, training
current staff, and more.

9. Set Long-Term Goals

In addition to short-term objectives, an IT strategy should also mention long-term goals. Every organization
must be clear on what IT goals it aspires to achieve – preferably in the longer term; these can range
from getting rid of legacy systems, modernizing the website, upgrading/migrating applications, embracing AI,
incorporating the latest IT security measures, and so on.

10. Keep Strong People Around You

An IT strategy is only as good as the people entrusted with bringing it to life. For any IT strategy to be
successful, it is important for people from every department to list down their IT requirements, and ensure they
are incorporated into the strategy. It is through their inputs that organizations can really achieve the IT goals it
has set out to achieve.

11. Continuous Assessment

Given the rate and pace of technological and business change, the chances that the organization is unable to
stick to the roadmap are high. Since the landscape is constantly changing, continuous assessment should also be
a part of the IT strategy. This will help organizations evaluate where they are today, and what adjustments they
need to make so they can follow the roadmap without much deviation.

Today’s organizations are relying heavily on IT, but that has also opened them up to new risks. The purpose of
an IT strategy should also be to improve the security posture of the organization. As IT security issues keep
CIOs awake, enterprises must find ways to guard their systems; a well-thought-out IT strategy with the right
security measures can help eliminate modern threats and keep up with emerging ones around the clock.

12. Governance is Key

Apart from security, governance also has a big role to play in how the eventual IT strategy shapes up. From
decision control to business process integration, governance represents the key constraints a business can place
on its IT strategy. It is through effective governance that organizations can implement the right measures or
address issues that come with technology adoption.

13. Capability Development

Companies must also focus on developing their IT capabilities plan on an ongoing basis in order to reach IT
goals faster. These include attracting fresh talent or training existing talent, developing sophisticated data
strategies, implementing the latest enterprise platforms, building a culture of experimentation, and partnering
with technology and vendor ecosystems to drive maximum value.

14. Infrastructure

And finally, the underlying IT infrastructure plays a big role in the accomplishment of IT goals. The
infrastructure component represents all the hardware, software, applications, systems, and networks (that
connect everything) required to efficiently run the business. The infrastructure is the engine that delivers on the
promises of IT and allows the business to reach its goals within time, and budget.

IT Strategic Plan Model

It’s easy to define what a strategic planning model is because the definition is embedded in its name! A
strategic planning model is how an organization takes its strategy and creates a plan to implement it to improve
operations and better meet their goals.

How they get to this point requires identifying what the company wants, and how it hopes to achieve those
goals in the near term. Once they have that target clearly defined, then it’s a matter of working backwards to
figure out how to get there.

This, of course, is easy to say and extremely difficult to do. In fact, sometimes the complexity involved in
trying to put together a plan to strategically meet your goals can feel like it needs a strategic planning model all
its own! That’s why there are classic models already in place to help you accomplish your goals.

5 Popular Strategic Planning Models

As we said, there are many models, and we deeply encourage you to go down that rabbit hole. You never know
what you might find. But for our purposes, let’s narrow the scope down to five with proven results.

1. Alignment Model

This strategic alignment model (SAM) is among the most used. It’s made up of two parts—strategic fit and
functional integration. What that means is that the model aligns business and IT strategies. To do this requires
identifying the key goals of an organization and then what the steps are to reach those goals. The plan must
maximize the process to best achieve those goals.

There are four perspectives to guide you in this model:

 Strategy execution, which is that the business strategy is driving the model.

 Technology potential, which also sees the business strategy as the driver, but with an IT strategy to support
it.

 Competitive potential deals with using emerging IT capabilities to create new products and services.

 Lastly, there’s the service level, which is focused on creating the best IT system in the organization.

Here, business strategy is important, but only the launching pad.

2. Balanced Scorecard

The balanced scorecard (BSC) is made up of clear communications on what is being accomplished. It aligns the
work with overall strategy, and prioritizes, measures and monitors progress. The idea is that the model balances
strategy with financial measurements. One of the reasons to use BSC is that it helps you see the connections
between various parts of your strategic management and planning.

Using BSC means exploring four different aspects of your organization.

 One is the financial performance of the company and what financial resources have been most effective.

 You also want to gauge the performance of your stakeholders or customers and how you serve them.

 Internal processes should be judged on their efficiency, too, but also quality.

 Then there’s the organizational capacity, which looks at your personnel, infrastructure, tech, culture and
whatever else can be used to meet your goals.

3. Basic Model

Also called the simple model, this one is often used by newer organizations who don’t have a history of
strategic planning to help guide them in making decisions. But it’s also a fine model for any organization that
doesn’t have the time or resources to spend on deep and extensive strategic planning.

First, you establish the mission statement for your organization, if you don’t already have one. That is, a
summary of your goals that is created to inspire and transform the organization. Next, you want to figure out
what goals must be achieved in order to fulfill the mission statement. From that, break down the tasks that will
reach those goals. Schedule, monitor and report on your progress.

4. Blue Ocean Strategy

The blue ocean strategy is designed for taking your product to a market where there is none or little
competition. Therefore, the research is heavily tilted towards finding a niche that can be exploited for profit,
such as where there are few businesses offering a product people have expressed an interest in, and there is little
to no pricing pressure.
Unlike red ocean strategy, which describes a market that is saturated and products are threatened by pricing
pressure that could threaten the business, blue ocean strategy looks for markets where there is room to grow.
You’re looking to capture new demand, where your product is either unique or so much better as to make
competition irrelevant.

5. Issue (Or Goal) Based

The issue-based model (also called goal-based) is the next step up from the basic strategic planning model. It
builds on the basic model and is intended for businesses that are more established. Thus, it’s more in-depth and
possibly the most popular of all the models we’ve highlighted.

To begin, use a SWOT analysis, which is an acronym standing for Strengths, Weaknesses and Threats Analysis.
It helps you identify and analyze internal and external factors that impact your business, product or service.
Next comes the mission statement, then planning, creating a budget and a schedule to implement it. After a
year, you’ll want to monitor the results and report on its progress, making adjustments as needed.

Phases in development of IT strategic plan

Every business should have a strategic plan—but the number of businesses that try to operate without a defined
plan (or at least a clearly communicated one) might surprise you. Research from On Strategy shows that 86% of
executive teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy, and 95% of a typical workforce
doesn’t understand its organization’s strategy.

In the simplest terms, the strategic planning process is the method that organizations use to develop plans to
achieve overall, long-term goals.

This process differs from the project planning process, which is used to scope and assign tasks for individual
projects, or strategy mapping, which helps you determine your mission, vision, and goals.

Strategic planning process steps

1. Determine your strategic position

This preparation phase sets the stage for all work going forward. You need to know where you are to determine
where you need to go and how you will get there.

Get the right stakeholders involved from the start, considering both internal and external sources. Identify key
strategic issues by talking with executives at your company, pulling in customer insights, and collecting
industry and market data to get a clear picture of your position in the market and in the minds of your
customers.

It can also be helpful to review—or create if you don’t have them already—your company’s mission and vision
statements to give yourself and your team a clear image of what success looks like for your business. In
addition, you should review your company’s core values to remind yourself about how your company will go
about achieving these objectives.

To get started, use industry and market data, including customer insights and current/future demands, to
identify the issues that need to be addressed. Document your organization's internal strengths and weaknesses,
along with external opportunities (ways your organization can grow in order to fill needs that the market does
not currently fill) and threats (your competition). 
As a framework for your initial analysis, use a SWOT diagram. With input from executives, customers, and
external market data, you can quickly categorize your findings as Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Threats (SWOT) to clarify your current position.

An alternative to a SWOT is PEST analysis. Standing for Political, Economic, Socio-cultural, and
Technological, PEST is a strategic tool used to clarify threats and opportunities for your business.

2. Prioritize your objectives

Once you have identified your current position in the market, it is time to determine objectives that will help
you achieve your goals. Your objectives should be in line with your company mission and vision.

Prioritize your objectives by asking important questions such as:

 Which of these initiatives will have the greatest impact when it comes to achieving our company
mission/vision and improving our position in the market?

 What types of impact are most important (e.g. customer acquisition vs. revenue)?

 How will the competition react?

 Which initiatives are most urgent?

 What will we need to do to accomplish our goals?

 How will we measure our progress and determine whether we achieved our goals?

Objectives should be distinct and measurable to help you reach your long-term strategic goals and initiatives
outlined in step one. Potential objectives can be updating website content, improving email open rates, and new
leads in the pipeline.

SMART goals are useful to determine a timeline and identify the resources needed to achieve the goals, as well
as key performance indicators (KPIs) to make your success measurable.

3. Develop a plan
Now it's time to create a strategic plan to successfully reach your goals. This step requires determining the
tactics necessary to attain your objectives and designating a timeline and clear communication of
responsibilities. 

Strategy mapping is an effective tool to visualize your entire plan. Working from the top-down, strategy maps
make it simple to view business processes and identify gaps for improvement.

Truly strategic choices usually involve a trade-off in opportunity cost. For example, your company may decide
to not put as much funding behind customer support, so that it can put more funding into creating an intuitive
user experience.

Be prepared to use your values, mission statement, and established priorities to say “no” to initiatives that won’t
enhance your long-term strategic position.  

4. Execute and manage the plan

Once you have the plan, you’re ready to implement it. First, communicate the plan to the organization by
sharing relevant documentation. Then, the actual work begins.

Turn your broader strategy into a concrete plan by mapping your processes. Use KPI dashboards to clearly
communicate team responsibilities. this granular approach illustrates the completion process and ownership for
each step of the way. 

Set up regular reviews with individual contributors and their superiors and determine check-in points to make
sure you’re on track.

5. Review and revise the plan

The final stage of the plan—to review and revise—gives you an opportunity to evaluate your priorities and
course-correct based on past successes or failures.

On a quarterly basis, determine which KPIs your team has met and how you can continue to meet them,
adapting your plan as necessary. On an annual basis, it’s important to evaluate your priorities and strategic
position to ensure that you stay on track for success in the long run.

Track your progress using balanced scorecards to provide a comprehensive understanding of your business's
performance and execute strategic goals.

Challenges in implementing an IT strategy plan

Strategic changes come in many forms for the modern company. It could be a new vertical focus, new
leadership style, or innovative product pivot. A solid corporate strategy narrows the focus of your organization
and lays the groundwork for growth and development.

Every company needs a strategic plan. A bird’s eye view plan – make, sell, profit – is good enough to get any
company up and running, but in order to innovate, grow, and develop, a company must narrow its vision. A
strategic plan helps companies slough off the things they aren’t good at doing so they can better focus on the
things that they are. A strategic plan also lays the groundwork for improving those things that need a little (or a
lot of) work. The right vision shows company leaders where to dedicate time, human capital, and budgetary
resources.
Alarmingly, 90% of organizations fail to effectively execute their strategic plans, according to Harvard
Business School. Improperly executing a strategy leads to a lack of objectives for employees, improper
resource allocation, lack of structure and leadership, and weak lines of communication. That is why it is so
important to get it right.

The reasons for failed strategies are varied, but most hinge on the fact that strategy implementation is resource
intensive and challenging. Understanding the biggest challenges to strategy implementation will help you avoid
the most common pitfalls and better set your company up for success.

1. Weak Strategy

The point of a strategy is a new vision. This is an opportunity to create a roadmap with broad buy in and
narrowed focus. There should be distinct milestones, clear timelines, and precise roles for employees. If taking
on a large, company-wide initiative, it is better to start small to ensure goals are manageable and achievable.
From there, resources and objectives can be expanded until the end result is achieved in the set timelines. Don’t
assign fuzzy responsibilities, get caught up in buzzwords, or overwhelm departments with too much too fast.

Imagine your business strategy like the board of Candy Land. Ask yourself, is there a clear path to the end
goal? Are there achievable milestones along the way? Are the obvious challenges clearly laid out? Are there
clear alternatives if a roadblock is met?

2. Ineffective training

A new strategic initiative will never get off the ground without the proper training for employees who are
expected to execute. There are many reasons companies skimp on proper corporate and learning opportunities
for employees, and we broke them down in an earlier blog post.

There are multiple modern options for unobtrusive, yet highly effective training that fit into employees’ busy
schedules. Finding the right training option saves money by preventing too much down time, strengthens skills
or teaches new skills, and provides follow up to ensure employees execute those lessons in their daily
workflows.

Consider Challenge Based Development. CBD was designed to effectively and scalably roll out training and
new strategic initiatives throughout companies. The right mix of instruction and action help new initiatives
stick.

3. Lack of resources

The most common direct costs of executing a new strategy are associated with the consultants or board
members brought in to plan, execute, and provide training, as well as the cost of any new associated
technology. This can be prohibitive for a company of any size, especially small- to mid-sized companies and
non-profits.

That’s why it’s important to start small and only expand once initial objectives have been met. Consider the
expertise you already have in-house. Choose a training platform or strategy implementation method that is
accessible, scalable, and can be cascaded hroughout the organization.

4. Lack of communication

Communication is key in the execution of any new strategy. An effective communication plan must be initiated
from the top down. Transparent, honest communication is not only the quality of an effective organization, but
it is a necessary step for any new roll out. Lack of communication results in disjointed teams and widespread
uncertainty.

It’s not uncommon for teams, especially those who have been working together for an extended period of time,
to be resistant to change. And nothing torpedoes the effectiveness of a strategic implementation faster than a
lack of cooperation among teams. Communication clearly from Day 1 each person’s new role, their importance
to the end result, and the ultimate benefit to a change to their own current routine. Help everyone understand
that a little pain now will result in big progress down the line.

5. Lack of follow through

Truly, the execution of any new strategy is never over. There should be regularly scheduled formal reviews of
the new strategy to review processes, ensure the plan is performing as designed, and make any necessary
tweaks. We suggest holding these meetings once a quarter.

As such, training should be included as part of this perpetual process review. Subscription-based training
platforms are the perfect tool to ensure long-term consistency and ongoing skills evolution. This style of
ongoing training is cost effective, team-oriented, and can revolve around a curriculum that evolves along with
the company’s strategy.

UNIT 3- Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise IT Design
Enterprise Design is a term we have come to use within Enterprise Architects to describe the merging of the
disciplines of Service Design, Information Management and Enterprise Architecture. We have discussed the
importance of Information Architecture and Information Management here previously; the focus of this article
is the relationship between Design Thinking, Service Design and Enterprise Architecture.

Design Thinking is a discipline that applies a design concept to business models, products and services,
typically taking a distinctly customer-centric view. This might sound like simply adding a Business Model
Canvas template to your modelling toolkit, or including an Empathy Map alongside your Business Capability
Model, or even simply adding an ‘As Experienced’ row to your copy of the Zachman Framework but this
would be a serious undersell of the Enterprise Design concept.  I believe Enterprise Design has the potential to
fundamentally transform enterprise architecture as it is currently practised.
Enterprise Integration
Enterprise integration is a technical field of enterprise architecture, which is focused on the study of topics
such as system interconnection, electronic data interchange, product data exchange and distributed
computing environments.

It is a concept in enterprise engineering to provide the relevant information and thereby enable communication
between people, machines and computers and their efficient co-operation and co-ordination.

Enterprise integration or enterprise application integration encompasses the technologies, processes, and team
structures that connect data, applications, and devices from everywhere in your IT organization. By definition,
it focuses on system interconnection; electronic data interchange, product data exchange, and distributed
computing environments.

Types of integration:-
There are a number of types of enterprise integration that connect critical systems and applications across all
lines of business within an organization and drive benefits.

Application integration: With application integration, processes and data can be optimized, integrated, and
shared between separate software applications in real-time to deliver improved insights, visibility, and
productivity across the organization.

Data integration: With data integration, information – or data – is discovered, retrieved, and compiled

from disparate sources into a structured and unified view.

Process integration: With process integration, workflows and processes that span multiple applications and
systems can be optimized and orchestrated to transform operations and drive efficiency.

Device integration: With device integration, different devices are connected so they can communicate,
interact, and interoperate to support business needs and drive productivity.

In summary, by integrating applications, data, processes, and devices, business leaders can leverage real-time
data and processes from across the organization to make informed decisions. With no need to aggregate and
update systems manually, people will be more productive, using real-time data on demand to work more
efficiently. Customer experiences are also enriched with faster, more satisfying interactions.

Enterprise ecosystem adaptation

IT has traditionally functioned as the foundation to keep a company running. One of its core functions has been
to protect company operations with firewalls and encryption to keep external technologies out. With the
advance of technologies, however, a vast array of capabilities and sources of competitive advantage are
emerging beyond a business’ traditional walls. Those capabilities are coalescing in a wealth of new ecosystems.
Architecture of an Enterprise
Enterprise architecture (EA) is a conceptual blueprint that defines the structure and operation of organizations.
The intent of enterprise architecture is to determine how an organization can effectively achieve its current and
future objectives. Enterprise architecture involves the practice of analyzing, planning, designing and eventual
implementing of analysis on an enterprise.
Enterprise architecture helps businesses going through digital transformation, since EA focuses on bringing
both legacy applications and processes together in an attempt to form a seamless environment. The use of EA
frameworks rose in response to increases in business technologies during the 1980s, when a need for a way to
respond to rapid technology growth was integral to business strategy. This process later expanded to the
entirety of a business, not just information technology (IT). This way, the rest of the business would be ensured
to be aligned with digital transformation.

Concepts of enterprise architecture are variable, so it will not look the same for each organization. Different
parts of an organization may also view EA differently. For example, programmers and other technical IT
professionals regard enterprise architecture strategies in terms of the infrastructure, application and
management components under their control. However, enterprise architects are still responsible for enacting
business structure analysis.
Scopes of enterprise architecture
Perspectives, or beliefs, held by enterprise architecture practitioners and scholars, with regards to the meaning
of the enterprise architecture, typically gravitate towards one or a hybrid of three schools of thought:[7]

1. Enterprise IT design – the purpose of EA is the greater alignment between IT and business concerns.
The main purpose of enterprise architecture is to guide the process of planning and designing the IT/IS
capabilities of an enterprise in order to meet desired organizational objectives. Typically, architecture
proposals and decisions are limited to the IT/IS aspects of the enterprise; other aspects only serve as
inputs.

2. Enterprise integrating – According to this school of thought, the purpose of EA is to achieve greater
coherency between the various concerns of an enterprise (HR, IT, Operations, etc.) including the
linking between strategy formulation and execution. Typically, architecture proposals and decisions
encompass all the aspects of the enterprise.

3. Enterprise ecosystem adaptation – the purpose of EA is to foster and maintain the learning capabilities
of enterprises so that they may be sustainable. Consequently, a great deal of emphasis is put on
improving the capabilities of the enterprise to improve itself, to innovate and to coevolve with its
environment. Typically, proposals and decisions encompass both the enterprise and its environment.

The importance of enterprise architecture

Enterprise architecture will help multiple departments in a business understand the broader business model and
articulate challenges and business risks. Because of this, enterprise architecture has an important role in
unifying and coordinating departmental processes across an organization. Being able to access and
understand business capability should also help individuals identify gaps in their business, and from there, they
can make more informed decisions.
Benefits of enterprise architecture
Possible advantages of having enterprise architecture include:

 Improved decision-making;

 Improved adaptability to changing demands or market conditions;

 Elimination of inefficient and redundant processes;

 Optimization of the use of organizational assets;

 Minimization of employee turnover;

 Support organization changes for redesigns and reorganization;

 Makes it easier to evaluate architecture against long-term goals;

 Can give views of IT architectures to those outside of IT;

 Can help with the unification of processes in IT;

 Can help simplify finance teams; and

 Facilitates collaboration with project management.

UNIT 4- IT Landscape Management

IT landscape management
IT landscape management builds transparency into the IT landscape and forges links between business and IT
structures, bridging the gap between the two camps. What enterprise architecture does is pull together disparate
information from business and IT and create associations between elements such as business processes (from
the business) and applications (from IT). It creates a unified picture of IT in the enterprise, and renders explicit
the interdependencies and impacts of changes in business and IT. IT landscape management creates a
transparent picture of the as-is and to-be status, and of the implementation roadmap.

Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture can be defined as the art of designing outdoor and indoor environments or varying sizes
including aspects of environment, art, engineering, architecture, and sociology. In the urban context, one can
describe landscape architecture as the creation of life between buildings. Landscape architects use small spaces
in urban areas to create roof gardens, pocket parks, etc. The urban landscape design usually includes sustainable
and cost-effective development of natural spaces with a lot of plants.

Usually, a landscaping architect offers consulting services to help create an ecosystem that suits your needs.
However, it is important to remember that a landscape requires regular care. Hence, if your lifestyle does not
permit enough time, then you can opt for ecosystems that are self-sustaining and ensure that they run
seamlessly without any manual intervention. By automatically cleaning pollutants, such systems can help
improve the quality of life of you and your loved ones.

Importance of Landscape Architecture

While most people understand the benefits offered by landscape architecture, they are unsure if they need it in
and around their homes. Here are ten reasons that will help you understand how landscape architecture can help
you live a better life:

1. Helps combat toxicity and other environmental issues

Most people are unaware of the fact that a majority of the products used at home like the furniture, upholstery,
building materials, fixtures, etc., emit toxic pollutants in the environment around them. While the reasons can
vary from the oxidization of heavy metals to toxic gases, the impact is the same. Of these, air pollution is the
primary area of concern.

With landscape architecture, you get a sustainable and efficient option to clear the environment of such toxins.
With green plants in and around your home, carbon dioxide levels are always under control. Also, plants absorb
toxic materials helping you maintain a healthy living space.

2. Offers customizable and sustainable development avenues

Many people think that landscape architecture is all about gardening and the planting of green plants to make
the place look beautiful. However, landscape architects create garden designs using concepts of climate and
ecology after a careful analysis of the surroundings. They customize solutions based on the specific
surroundings of each house and target the environmental issues in the area.

Every household and locality has different causes of pollutants. These causes are identified by civil engineers or
landscaping architects and they select indoor and outdoor plants for cleaning the air, creating a cooling effect,
absorbing toxins, and balancing the natural ecosystem. While this process can take time, it can help create a
sustainable natural environment around the house and the area.

3. Storm Water Management

Rainwater harvesting has gained popularity around the globe as a sustainable solution for water scarcity around
the globe. While rainwater harvesting is about collecting and storing rainwater rather than allowing it to run off,
most of the rain manages to run off, especially from non-building surfaces. This water is called storm water.
Using the right equipment and tools, storm water can be used to fight water scarcity more efficiently.

Typically, the storm water is supposed to trickle into the soil and rejoin the water table below. This water table
is an additional source of water for many regions. However, with many areas having concrete roads and
pavements, a lot of storm water is prevented from seeping into the soil.

By using landscape architecture techniques, the soil can be loosened to help storm water find its way to the
water table faster and rejuvenate the natural resources. Hence, the locality will have a natural water resource at
all times.

4. Innovative Troubleshooting of Natural Environments

Most of us have heard about vertical gardens, wall garden, and other innovative ways of bringing nature into
our homes and living areas. This has been made possible by innovative landscape architects constantly striving
to balance modern living with environmental sustainability. In other words, landscape architects use
horticulture to add biodiversity to urban design.

ASLA or the American Society of Landscape Architects has redefined the works of Frederick Law Olmstead to
highlight the importance of landscape in urban areas. The methods primarily included handpicking creepers and
plants to create an aesthetically pleasing effect and clean the environment.

5. Psycho-Social Benefits for Humans

It is believed that being in nature can help us improve our mental abilities since it calms our mind allowing it to
explore the unknown. However, with constant deforestation, natural surroundings are getting harder to find. In
such times, landscape architecture seems like the only solution. With technology-aided tools, architects can
create pockets of nature across urban areas and breathe life into an otherwise concrete city.
6. Therapeutic Final Products

Working with nature has been known to have a calming and therapeutic effect on the human mind. The same
holds true with landscape architecture. When all the planning and preparation finally comes to life, the result is
blissful.

We have been constantly talking about tools that you can use to aid you with landscape architecture. One such
tool is MagikTour. It offers a clear idea about what can you expect as the final outcome from your landscape
ideas. It helps you create ecosystems that are cost-effective and is easy to use. Every living space is unique and
needs customized natural surroundings to balance the toxins and pollutants around. With MagikTour, you can
plan the natural environment based on your needs. Landscape artists find this tool very useful since it allows
them to visualize their landscape designs and share them with their clients before getting started.

Business model innovation for sustainable landscape

UNIT 5- Analysis Business Environment

Creative Learning
Creative learning is not memorizing information. It’s building knowledge and developing skills using creative
techniques.

Rather than dictating how information should be absorbed, creative education— guides the learner through the
instruction process using creative methods. And it challenges the obvious, the conventional, and the assumed.
To some extent, it’s about breaking out of constraints.

Importance of Creative Learning

Learners engage deeply with creative learning experiences. The more that learners engage with the process,, the
longer they retain knowledge and expand their understanding. But that’s just the beginning. Learning creatively
does way more than that.
  Stimulates problem-solving. Creative learning experiences change the way learners approach
problems. They become more imaginative and innovative, and they cope better when they don’t know
the answer. Creative learners start visualizing alternatives or possibilities from different perspectives.
This perspective shift allows them to anticipate difficulties and overcome them.

 Develops critical thinking. Learners propose innovative ideas and resolutions. Then, they review the
progress of implementing them and adjust the process for improvement.
 Promotes risk-taking. Creative learning exposes learners to failure. They have the opportunity to make
decisions and, inevitably, some of them won’t lead to solutions. But learning creatively provides
learners with a space where they feel comfortable taking risks and seeing different outcomes. Getting
comfortable with “failure” allows learners to take more risks with less fear.
 Builds a curious mindset. Creative learning solutions are unconventional. Unconventional ways of
learning make learners curious about the process and the topic and foster learning itself. Creative
learning sparks curiosity and discussion and leads learners to interesting insights.
 Increases confidence levels. Creative learning techniques build confidence. The result? Learners are
more likely to apply the lessons they learned.

Organizational learning and Role of Information Technology in Business Transformation

For organizational learning to be implemented effectively, it is important to take a strategic, multi-pronged

approach that evolves with changing corporate learning needs and internal/external challenges.
Organizational learning needs to be both a formally supported strategy and an integral part of the
organization's corporate culture. The learning and development strategy  must recognize both employees'
individual talent development  needs and the company's needs in terms of functional team strengths. Finally,
proper alignment with the overall corporate strategy is critical to promoting strong, sustainable organizational
learning.

Role of Information Technology in Business Transformation

The transformation of a business implies a profound, major change. Without doubt, information technology is
an agent that can bring this level of change. Over long periods of time as information technology evolves,
most businesses are seriously affected by technological changes. However, transformation in business
processes and models can also be sudden as new solutions alter the business landscape.

Identification

According to Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board (Access Board), information
technology is any type of technological system or solutions that is involved in the "creation, conversion, or
duplication of data or information." Considering technology's role in creating digital information, the
transformation in many businesses is so profound that it is difficult to tell where technology ends and
business begins.

History

Inform IT notes there is almost no precedent for the business transformation that arose in the latter half of the
twentieth century as a result of information technology. During that time, the computer itself went from rare
and complicated to common and user friendly. Incredible amounts of information and business assets were
put into digital form and managed through computer interfaces. The handshake was replaced by confirmation
through email. Information technology has transformed business management to such a degree that methods
that seemed modern only decades ago are now outdated.

Effects

The effects of technology's transformation of business can be positive and negative. Mobile communication
devices and Internet access allow staff to work from anywhere with great flexibility, but it also makes it
difficult to separate personal and work time. Software solutions allow people to easily create complex
reports, but these do not always add business value. Server environments can store huge amounts of
information without taking up any space, but hackers can break into systems and steal information while
going unnoticed.

Benefits

Information technology's role in business transformation has considerable benefits. The ability to share
information and collaborate without geographic constraints changed the way many businesses communicate
with staff and clients. Search engine technology allows individuals to access information with unprecedented
speed and accuracy. Websites introduce companies and explain value propositions before anyone has to take
the time to meet.

Theories/Speculation

Most experts agree that the transformation of business from information technology will be robust and long-
term. Even during times of economic slowdown, new technological innovations are created that continue to
transform the way businesses operate. Internet technology continues to expand, further transforming the
business workplace into a virtual environment. Information technology has one of the most vital roles in
transforming how business is done.

Analytical framework for Strategic IT Initiatives

What is a strategic framework for IT?

A strategic framework is a systematic, structured method that helps you define how your IT project (or
initiative) supports business goals and stakeholder objectives.

Think of a chemistry or math equation, where you must account for the right mix of variables to produce the
expected outcome. A strategic framework is similar—you piece together the relationships and resources and
activities needed to create a valuable business outcome, then you document it.

The purpose of an IT strategy framework is to provide general, macro-level propositions about the project’s
content. As a result, teams can evaluate their IT strategy before implementing and spending resources on a
project.
Benefits of using an IT strategic framework
Developing a strategy framework for your IT projects offers a variety of benefits. You’ll have the beginnings of
a communication plan for your project: the what, how, and when on your deliverables. The framework also
makes you consider interactions between projects—helping you decide which projects are worth it now, and
which may become more valuable down the line.

At a higher level, your framework shows your strategic approach, which can open opportunities for you and
enable you to better engage in high-level conversations about the business. Then, project and team managers
can carry this positive engagement to their teams, making employees understand how their work is vital to the
business, which is essential for morale.

And consider how this strategy can promote your project even as management changes. The inevitable change
might put your project at risk—perhaps a new manager doesn’t get it. But by sharing your already-developed
strategy, you’ll have a much better chance of keeping your project.

An IT strategy framework offers benefits beyond successful project planning and execution. Once your project
starts delivering, you can collect lessons learned which contribute to an environment of continuous
improvement. Your framework can also be used as an opportunity to limit shadow IT, the practice of bypassing
organizational approvals in adopting technology solutions and resources.

Components of a strategy framework

So, you’re convinced you need a strategy framework for your IT project? Great! Let’s get started on what goes
into an IT strategy framework.

Your framework can largely define your IT strategy and concepts, or it can relate to a specific IT project.
Whichever situation, put those aside for a moment and start with three aspects of your company. Consider and
list out the MVG of your company:
  Mission statement that explains your organization’s purpose or current state (not the purpose of your IT
project)

 Vision statement that explains your organization’s aspirations or future desired state

 Goals that summarize what your organization aims to achieve and when (but not how these goals will be
achieved)

Now, the MVG becomes the foundation for your strategy. Next, begin brainstorming and defining these four
components of your IT project:

 Business objective. What will your project achieve that will help the business achieve their goals?

 Approach. What high-level steps will you follow to realize that achievement?

 Measurement. How will you measure and report on this achievement?

 Target. Which forecasted improvement will you use to define success?

UNIT 6- Competitive Strategy/Advantage in IT

Industry and competitive analysis

Industry and competitive analysis (ICA) is a part of any strategy development in firms and other
organizations. It contains a very practical set of methods to quickly obtain a good grasp of an industry, be it
pharmaceuticals, information and communication technology, aluminium, or even the beer industry. The
purpose of ICA is to understand factors that influence the performance of the industry, and as well the
performance of firms within the industry.

Industry analysis is a market assessment tool designed to provide a business with an idea of the complexity
of a particular industry. It involves reviewing the economic, political and market factors that influence the
way the industry develops. A competitive analysis is a critical part of your company marketing plan.

Methods of industry and competitive analysis:

(1) Porter’s Five Forces Model: Industry and competitive analysis can be done by using the Porter’s 5 Forces
model. The model is named after Michael E. Porter; this model identifies and analyzes 5 competitive forces that
shape every industry, and helps to determine an industry’s weaknesses and strengths. Five forces are –

A) Competition in the industry,

B) Potential of new entrants into the industry,

C) Power of suppliers,
 D) Power of customers,

E) A threat of substitute products

(2) Thompson and Strickland’s-7 forces Model: Michael Porter’s Five Forces Model focuses only on the
competitive forces surrounding buyers, suppliers, established companies, potential competitors and substitute
products. This model excludes many other industry-related factors that substantially provide inputs for
identification of industry’s environmental opportunities and threats. To overcome it is a shortcoming of Porter’s
Model, Thompson and Strickland has developed a model for the overall analysis of an industry, including
competition within the industry.

The model for industry and competitive analysis proposed by Thompson and Strickland has not only been able
to overcome the drawbacks of Porter’s Model, it also seems to be comprehensive. It touches on all the relevant
issues in an industry that need to be analyzed for assessing the overall industry situations, including the degree
of competition in the industry.

The seven factors of the Thompson and Strickland Model are as follows –

 Industry’s dominant economic features.

 Main sources of competitive pressure and the strengths of the competitive forces.
 Driving forces.
 Market position of the rival companies.
 Competitor’s strategic moves.
 Industry’s key success factors.
 Industry’s overall attractiveness and profitability prospects.

(3) The “Structure-Conduct-Performance” Paradigm: The “Structure-Conduct-Performance” paradigm is a

roadmap for identifying the factors that determine the competitiveness of a market, analyzing the behaviour of
firms, and assessing the success of an industry in producing benefits for consumers.

Strategy and competitive advantage

Porter’s model identifies the forces that influence competitive advantage in the marketplace. Of greater
interest to most managers is the development of a strategy aimed at establishing a profitable and sustainable
position against these five forces. To establish such a position, a company needs to develop a strategy of
performing activities differently from a competitor.
We cite 10 strategies for competitive advantage here.

1. Cost leadership strategy:

Produce products and/or services at the lowest cost in the industry. A firm achieves cost
leadership in its industry by thrifty buying practices, efficient business processes, forcing up the
prices paid by competitors, and helping customers or suppliers reduce their costs. A cost
leadership example is the Wal-Mart automatic inventory replenishment system. This system
enables Wal-Mart to reduce storage requirements so that Wal-Mart stores have one of the
highest ratios of sales floor space in the industry. Essentially Wal-Mart is using floor space to
sell products, not store them, and it does not have to tie up capital in inventory. Savings from
this system and others allows Wal-Mart to provide low-priced products to its customers and still
earn high profits.
2. Differentiation strategy:
Offer different products, services, or product features. By offering different, “better” products
companies can charge higher prices; sell more products, or both. Southwest Airlines has
differentiated itself as a low-cost, short-haul, express airline, and that has proven to be a winning
 strategy for competing in the highly competitive airline industry. Dell has differentiated itself in
the personal computer market through its mass-customization strategy.
3. Niche strategy:
Select a narrow-scope segment (niche market) and be the best in quality, speed, or cost in that
market. For example, several computer chip manufacturers make customized chips for specific
industries or companies. Some of the best-selling products on the Internet are niche products.
For example, dogtoys.com and cattoys.com offer a large variety of pet toys that no other pet toy
retailer offers.
4. Growth strategy:
Increase market share, acquire more customers, or sell more products. Such a strategy
strengthens a company and increases profitability in the long run. Web-based selling can
facilitate growth by creating new marketing channels, such as electronic auctions. An example is
Dell Computer (dellauction.com), which auctions both new and used computers mainly to
individuals and small businesses.
5. Alliance strategy:
Work with business partners in partnerships, alliances, joint ventures, or virtual companies. This
strategy creates synergy, allows companies to concentrate on their core business, and provides
opportunities for growth. Alliances are particularly popular in electronic commerce ventures. For
example, in August 2000 Amazon.com and Toysrus.com launched a cobranded Web site to sell
toys, capitalizing on each others’ strengths. In spring 2001 they created a similar baby-products
venture.
6. Innovation strategy:
Introduce new products and services, put new features in existing products and services, or
develop new ways to produce them. Innovation is similar to differentiation except that the
impact is much more dramatic. Differentiation “tweaks” existing products and services to offer
the customer something special and different. Innovation implies something so new and different
that it changes the nature of the industry. A classic example is the introduction of automated
teller machines (ATM) by Citibank. The convenience and cost-cutting features of this innovation
gave Citibank a huge advantage over its competitors. Like many innovative products, the ATM
changed the nature of competition in the banking industry so that now an ATM network is a
competitive necessity for any bank.
7. Operational effectiveness strategy:
Improve the manner in which internal business processes are executed so that a firm performs
similar activities better than rivals (Porter, 1996). Such improvements increase employee and
customer satisfaction, quality, and productivity while decreasing time to market. Improved
decision making and management activities also contribute to improved efficiency. Web-based
systems can improve the administrative efficiency of procurement, for example, by 20- to 30-
fold.
8. Customer-orientation strategy:
Concentrate on making customers happy, as is the case with radioshack Online. Strong
competition and the realization that the customer is king (queen) is the basis of this strategy.
Web-based systems that support customer relationship management are especially effective in
this area because they can provide a personalized, one-to-one relationship with each customer.
9. Time strategy:
Treat time as a resource, then manage it and use it to the firm’s advantage. “Time is money,”
“Internet time” (i.e., three months on the Internet is like a year in real time), first-mover
advantage, just-in-time delivery or manufacturing, competing in time (Keen, 1988), and other
time-based competitive concepts emphasize the importance of time as an asset and a source of
competitive advantage. One of the driving forces behind time as a competitive strategy is the
 need for firms to be immediately responsive to customers, markets, and changing market
conditions.
10. Increase switching costs strategy:
Discourage customers or suppliers from going to competitors for economic reasons. For
example, Master Builders builds in switching costs with its concrete additive tank-monitoring
system, as described earlier. Interorganizational information systems (discussed below) increase
buyer and seller dependencies, making it difficult or more expensive for buyers to turn to
competitors. E-procurement systems that record sales in a buyer’s purchasing system can be
difficult to set up, but offer a great deal of reliability and convenience for the buyer. Once set up,
the buyers face switching costs to add or change suppliers.

Strategic Growth of IT
Unleashing the true potential of information systems is one of the most daunting challenges facing senior
managers in the Information Age. While an alarming number of executives seem to ignore the issue, a new
prototype for the role of information technology (I.T.) in business is slowly emerging.

"I.T. on its own cannot change the course of a company," Mr. Callahan said. "But its intimate integration into
every aspect of corporate strategy can."

Seven Ways to Integrate I.T. with Business Strategy

 Draw I.T. leaders into the company's elite decision-making circle.

 Improve communications between C.I.O.'s and C.E.O.'s. C.I.O.'s should drop the jargon and talk about
revenue-producing initiatives. C.E.O.'s must listen.

 Consider appointing an I.T. head with a business background. Someone with engineering knowledge
alone may not be able to think strategically.

 Adopt a team approach to I.T. projects. Teams should consist largely of members from the
business side.

 Get the entire corporation behind the strategy. This can be done through demonstrations, videos and
other internal public relations techniques.
  Present I.T. as a corporate priority.
 Measure I.T. success by profits, not cost. This requires viewing technology as revenue driver, rather
than cost centre.

Impact of competitive strategy and Information technology

The information revolution is sweeping through our economy. No company can escape its effects. Dramatic
reductions in the cost of obtaining, processing, and transmitting information are changing the way we do
business.

Most general managers know that the revolution is under way, and few dispute its importance. As more and
more of their time and investment capital is absorbed in information technology and its effects, executives have
a growing awareness that the technology can no longer be the exclusive territory of EDP or ARE departments.
As they see their rivals use information for competitive advantage, these executives recognize the need to
become directly involved in the management of the new technology. In the face of rapid change, however, they
don’t know how.

The information revolution is affecting competition in three vital ways:

 It changes industry structure and, in so doing, alters the rules of competition.

 It creates competitive advantage by giving companies new ways to outperform their rivals.

 It spawns whole new businesses, often from within a company’s existing operations.

Strategic Significance

Information technology is changing the way companies operate. It is affecting the entire process by which
companies create their products. Furthermore, it is reshaping the product itself: the entire package of physical
goods, services, and information companies provide to create value for their buyers.

An important concept that highlights the role of information technology in competition is the “value
chain.”1 This concept divides a company’s activities into the technologically and economically distinct
activities it performs to do business. We call these “value activities.” The value a company creates is measured
by the amount that buyers are willing to pay for a product or service. A business is profitable if the value it
creates exceeds the cost of performing the value activities. To gain competitive advantage over its rivals, a
company must either perform these activities at a lower cost or perform them in a way that leads to
differentiation and a premium price (more value).

Transforming the value chain

Information technology is permeating the value chain at every point, transforming the way value activities are
performed and the nature of the linkages among them. It also is affecting competitive scope and reshaping the
way products meet buyer needs. These basic effects explain why information technology has acquired strategic
significance and is different from the many other technologies businesses use.
Every value activity has both a physical and an information-processing component. The physical component
includes all the physical tasks required to perform the activity. The information-processing component
encompasses the steps required to capture, manipulate, and channel the data necessary to perform the activity.

Transforming the product

Most products have always had both a physical and an information component. The latter, broadly defined, is
everything that the buyer needs to know to obtain the product and use it to achieve the desired result. That is, a
product includes information about its characteristics and how it should be used and supported. For example,
convenient, accessible information on maintenance and service procedures is an important buyer criterion in
consumer appliances.

Direction & pace of change

Although a trend toward information intensity in companies and products is evident, the role and importance
of the technology differs in each industry. Banking and insurance, for example, have always been information
intensive. Such industries were naturally among the first and most enthusiastic users of data processing. On
the other hand, physical processing will continue to dominate in industries that produce, say, cement, despite
increased information processing in such businesses.

Changing the Nature of Competition

After surveying a wide range of industries, we find that information technology is changing the rules of
competition in three ways. First, advances in information technology are changing the industry structure.
Second, information technology is an increasingly important lever that companies can use to create competitive
advantage. A company’s search for competitive advantage through information technology often also spreads to
affect industry structure as competitors imitate the leader’s strategic innovations. Finally, the information
revolution is spawning completely new businesses. These three effects are critical for understanding the impact
of information technology on a particular industry and for formulating effective strategic responses.

Changing industry structure

The structure of an industry is embodied in five competitive forces that collectively determine industry
profitability: the power of buyers, the power of suppliers, the threat of new entrants, the threat of substitute
products, and the rivalry among existing competitors. The collective strength of the five forces varies from
industry to industry, as does average profitability. The strength of each of the five forces can also change, either
improving or eroding the attractiveness of an industry.

UNIT 7- Recent Trends in Strategic Management in IT Sector

Introduction
Early indicators suggest that the 21st century may be at least as turbulent as its predecessor. At the time of
writing, only seven years of the new century have elapsed, yet businesses have been buffeted by calamities on
multiple fronts. These have included: the bursting of the dot.com and technology–media–telecom bubbles; a
wave of corporate scandals that followed the collapse of Enron; the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York
and Washington, followed by subsequent terrorist bombings in Bali, Madrid, and London; the invasions of
Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon; warnings of a world war between the West and Islam; the growing impact of
China, India, and Russia on the world economy – including escalating commodity prices (Brent crude hit $76 a
barrel in July 2006); and the threat that climate change may have reached “tipping point,” triggering rapidly
accelerating global warming.

These developments in the business environment have implications for business strategy at three levels. At the
most general level, volatility and unpredictability of the technological, economic, and political environments
have increased the importance of companies being flexible and responsive. Second, these developments have
called for specific strategy responses from companies. For example, rapid industrialization in China and IT
development in India has encouraged widespread outsourcing of manufacture to China and business services to
India. The convergence of the markets for telecom, entertainment, computers, and consumer electronics
requires that the firms in these sectors develop strategies for competing within a far broader market space.
Finally, the new realities of the 21st century have triggered new thinking about the nature of strategy, the
responsibilities of the corporation, and the role of management.

Strategic Thinking
Definition
Strategic thinking is simply an intentional and rational thought process that focuses on the analysis of critical
factors and variables that will influence the long-term success of a business, a team, or an individual.

Strategic thinking includes careful and deliberate anticipation of threats and vulnerabilities to guard against and
opportunities to pursue. Ultimately strategic thinking and analysis lead to a clear set of goals, plans, and new
ideas required to survive and thrive in a competitive, changing environment. This sort of thinking must account
for economic realities, market forces, and available resources.

Strategic thinking requires research, analytical thinking, innovation, problem-solving skills, communication and
leadership skills, and decisiveness.

Importance
The competitive landscape can change quickly for any organization. New trends may emerge quickly and
require you to take advantage of them or fall behind. By incorporating everyday strategic thinking into your
work and life routines, you will become more skilled at anticipating, forecasting, and capitalizing on
opportunities.

On an individual level, thinking strategically allows you to make a greater contribution in your role, become
more essential to your organization, and prove that you’re ready to control greater resources.

In Business
During an organization’s annual strategic planning process, leaders often compile, analyze, and synthesize
external and internal data and ideas to develop its strategic intent and build a strategic narrative. This document
will guide the company into the future for a defined period of time. Leaders then choose and plan specific
actions that will accomplish these strategic initiatives.
Businesses also need to schedule a time for strategic thinking and reviews throughout the year. Leadership
teams should periodically examine their strategic initiatives to ensure execution is taking place, review, and
sustain the effort across the organization.

In Leadership

Business leaders and stakeholders use strategic thinking and analysis to decide what product mix they’ll offer,
what competitive landscape to compete in (or not compete in), and how limited resources will be allocated such
as time, employees, and capital. They must decide how to best structure enroll others to achieve important
objectives and to avoid putting resources at unnecessary risk of loss.

Components
If you’re working on your company’s strategy, you’ll need to engage in analysis, problem-solving, decision
making, and leading through change.

As you create a strategic direction or plan, you’ll analyze:

 Business opportunities and vulnerabilities

 Feasible of each idea or risk
 The costs associated with each move you are considering
 The likelihood that various tactics will be effective
 Methods of aligning objectives with the overall plan
 The effects of competitors, suppliers, customers, and new substitutes might have on your strategic
plans
As you discover obstacles during the planning process, you’ll problem-solve by:

 Gathering relevant information about the problem

 Clearly defining the problem from a strategic point of view
 Brainstorming possible solutions
 Imagining further challenges and how to overcome them
 Delegating assignments of various parts of this strategy to key associates
Strategic thinking requires agility and decisiveness in choosing a plan and sticking with it. However, you have
to be aware of new, more promising opportunities. It is a balancing act between consistency and flexibility. You
and your team will:

 Make sure decisions are well-informed by thorough research

 Choose objectives and accompanying metrics
 Prioritize objectives
 Follow a standard decision-making process
 Build consensus, when necessary
During strategic planning, you will need to communicate ideas to your staff and gather feedback from them.
You’ll then utilize effective channels to communicate a compelling vision of the completed plan to all
employees and keep them focused on their contribution to the plan.

Organizational Culture
Introduction
Organizational culture refers to a company's mission, objectives, expectations and values that guide its
employees. Businesses with an organizational culture tend to be more successful than less structured companies
because they have systems in place that promote employee performance, productivity and engagement. Having
a strong company culture motivates everyone to do their best work.

Significance/Importance
Here are seven reasons why organizational culture is important:

Increased employee engagement

A work environment that possesses organizational culture is driven by purpose and clear expectations. This
motivates and inspires employees to be more engaged in their work duties and interactions with others. It also
leads to high levels of workforce engagement, which drives productivity. Having a strong connection to an
organization and its people creates an atmosphere of positivity that is hard to ignore.

Decreased turnover

People who feel valued and respected at a company are less likely to leave it. That's why it's essential for brands
to foster a winning organizational culture that supports their core values and mission statement. Happy
employees mean less turnover, which saves companies time and money in the hiring process. Companies that
achieve a strong culture must take steps to maintain and improve it.

Elevated productivity

When employees have the resources and tools they need to succeed, it helps increase productivity and
performance levels overall. Organizational culture impacts the structure of a workplace in ways that bring
people of the same skill set together. Those who share similar backgrounds and skills may work more quickly
together when tackling company projects.

Strong brand identity

A company's organizational culture represents its public image and reputation. People make assumptions about
businesses based on their interactions within and outside of the company. If it lacks organizational culture or
has a weak image, customers may hesitate to do business with anyone who is associated with the brand.
Businesses with a strong brand identity tend to attract more business and job candidates with similar values
who support their mission.

Transformational power

Not all businesses have the power to transform ordinary employees into total brand advocates, but those with a
strong organizational culture do. Companies that recognize their employees' efforts and celebrate team
successes are more likely to notice a change in employees as they experience a sense of accomplishment.

Top performers

Companies that promote community in the workplace are more likely to retain their best employees. People
who are great at their jobs and know the value of their skills commonly leave negative work environments
where they feel undermined and unappreciated. Organizational culture builds a high-performance culture that
strengthens the work of people within the company, resulting in a positive employee experience overall.

Effective on boarding

More and more, businesses with an organizational culture are relying on effective on boarding practices to train
new hires. On boarding practices that include orientation, training and performance management programs help
new employees access the right resources and better transition into their roles. This promotes employee
longevity and loyalty and reduces the amount of frustration some employees experience when they don't have
the information needed to do their job well. On boarding is a great way for companies to ensure new hires
understands the core values of their business.

Healthy team environment

Organizational culture helps improve workflows and guides the decision-making process. It also helps teams
overcome barriers of ambiguity. Team members who are informed and knowledgeable about certain processes
are often more motivated to finish projects. Having a clear culture that unifies employees and promotes
organized work structures helps people work together with purpose.

Organizational Development and Change

Organizational development is a critical and science-based process that helps organizations build their capacity
to change and achieve greater effectiveness by developing, improving, and reinforcing strategies, structures,
and processes.

There are a few elements in this definition that stand out:

 Critical and science-based process. OD is an evidence-based and structured process. It is not about trying
something out and seeing what happens. It is about using scientific findings as input and creating a
structured and controlled process in which assumptions are tested. Lastly, it is about testing if the outcomes
reflect the intention of the intervention.
 Build capacity to change and achieve greater effectiveness. Organizational development is aimed
at organizational effectiveness. It, therefore, has a number of (business) outcomes. These can differ between
organizations, but usually, they do include financial performance, customer satisfaction, organizational
member engagement, and an increased capacity to adapt and renew the organization. These are not always
clear-cut. Sometimes it is about building a competitive advantage, in whichever way we define that. We will
explore these outcomes later in this article
 Developing, improving, and reinforcing strategies, structures, and processes. The last part of our
definition states that organizational development applies to changes in strategy, structure, and/or processes.
This implies a system-approach, where we focus on an entire organizational system. This can include the
full organization, one or more locations, or a single department.
Organizational design has become more crucial over time. Today’s world is characterized by Volatility,
Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA). This VUCA world requires new agility from organizations,
and organizational development is the means to that end.

Strategic Leadership
Strategic learning focuses on teaching students strategies (i.e., metacognition and mindsets) they can leverage
to enhance their ability to learn. Ultimately, the goal of strategic learning is to help students become self-
directed lifelong learners who can effectively learn in any learning environment.

Metacognition is the set of processes involved in monitoring and directing one’s own thinking. In higher
education, students are often required to work more independently and manage their time and approaches to
learning with less support. Consequently, students who can guide their own thinking and become self-directed
are at an advantage.

Ideally, we would like our students to be self-directed and to be able to assess the demands of a learning
task, evaluate their own knowledge and skills, plan their approach, monitor their progress,
and adjust their strategies as needed. Additionally, after the learning activity, students would reflect
on or evaluate the strategies they implemented to determine how they can improve their learning strategies for
next time.

These self-directed learning strategies involve both Metacognitive regulation and knowledge.  Metacognitive
regulation refers to activities that control one’s thinking and learning, such as setting goals, planning,
monitoring comprehension, and evaluating. Metacognitive knowledge is an awareness of what impacts your
own learning, knowledge of skills and strategies that work best in a given learning context, and how and when
to use such skills and strategies.

Models of Leadership Styles and its Roles

A leader is a person who influences a group of people towards the achievement of a goal while leadership is the
art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Different leadership styles will
result in different impact to organization. The leader has to choose the most effective approach of leadership
style depending on situation because leadership style is crucial for a team success. By understanding
these leadership styles and their impact, everyone can become a more flexible and better leader.
1. Transactional Leadership

Transactional leadership is a term used to classify a group of leadership theories that inquire the interactions
between leaders and followers. This style of leadership starts with the premise that team members agree to obey
their leader totally when they take a job on. The “transaction” is usually that the organization pays the team
members, in return for their effort and compliance. As such, the leader has the right to “punish” team members
if their work doesn’t meet the pre-determined standard. Team members can do little to improve their job
satisfaction under transactional leadership. The leader could give team members some control of their
income/reward by using incentives that encourage even higher standards or greater productivity. Alternatively a
transactional leader could practice “management by exception”, whereby, rather than rewarding better work, he
or she would take corrective action if the required standards were not met. Transactional leadership is really just
a way of managing rather a true leadership style, as the focus is on short-term tasks. It has serious limitations
for knowledge-based or creative work, but remains a common style in many organizations.

2. Autocratic Leadership

Under the autocratic leadership styles, all decision-making powers are centralized in the leader as shown such
leaders are dictators. Autocratic leadership is an extreme form of transactional leadership, where a leader exerts
high levels of power over his or her employees or team members. People within the team are given few
opportunities for making suggestions, even if these would be in the team’s or organization’s interest.

Autocratic leadership style  is often considered the classical approach. It is one in which the manager retains as
much power and decision-making authority as possible. The manager does not consult employees, nor are they
allowed to give any input. Employees are expected to obey orders without receiving any explanations. The
motivation environment is produced by creating a structured set of rewards and punishments. Autocratic leaders
make decisions without consulting their teams. This is considered appropriate when decisions genuinely need to
be taken quickly, when there’s no need for input, and when team agreement isn’t necessary for a successful
outcome.

Many people resent being treated like this. Because of this, autocratic leadership often leads to high levels of
absenteeism and staff turnover. Also, the team’s output does not benefit from the creativity and experience of
all team members, so many of the benefits of teamwork are lost.

For some routine and unskilled jobs, however, this style can remain effective, where the advantages of control
outweigh the disadvantages.

3. Transformational Leadership

Transformational leadership is a leadership style that is defined as leadership that creates valuable and positive
change in the followers. A transformational leader focuses on “transforming” others to help each other, to look
out for each other, to be encouraging and harmonious, and to look out for the organization as a whole. In this
leadership, the leader enhances the motivation, morale and performance of his follower group. A person with
this leadership style is a true leader who inspires his or her team with a shared vision of the future.
Transformational leaders are highly visible, and spend a lot of time communicating. They don’t necessarily lead
from the front, as they tend to delegate responsibility amongst their teams. While their enthusiasm is often
infectious, they can need to be supported by “detail people”.
In many organizations, both transactional and transformational leadership are needed. The transactional leaders
(or managers) ensure that routine work is done reliably, while the transformational leaders look after initiatives
that add new value.

4. Servant Leadership

This term, coined by Robert Greenleaf in the 1970s, describes a leader who is often not formally recognized as
such. When someone, at any level within an organization, leads simply by virtue of meeting the needs of his or
her team, he or she is described as a “servant leader”. Servant Leadership’s focus was on the leader as a servant,
with his or her key role being in developing, enabling and supporting team members, helping them fully
develop their potential and deliver their best. In many ways, servant leadership is a form of democratic
leadership, as the whole team tends to be involved in decision-making.

Supporters of the servant leadership model suggest it is an important way ahead in a world where values are
increasingly important, and in which servant leaders achieve power on the basis of their values and ideals.
Others believe that in competitive leadership situations, people practicing servant leadership can find
themselves “left behind” by leaders using other leadership styles. Followers may like the idea of servant
leadership so there’s something immediately attractive about the idea of having a boss who’s a servant leader.
People without responsibility for results may like it for its obviously democratic and consensual approach.

5. Charismatic Leadership

The Charismatic Leader and the Transformational Leader can have many similarities, in that the
Transformational Leader may well be charismatic. Their main difference is in their basic focus. Whereas the
Transformational Leader has a basic focus of transforming the organization and, quite possibly, their followers,
the Charismatic Leader may not want to change anything. A charismatic leadership style can appear similar to a
transformational leadership style, in that the leader injects huge doses of enthusiasm into his or her team, and is
very energetic in driving others forward.

However, charismatic leaders can tend to believe more in themselves than in their teams. This can create a risk
that a project, or even an entire organization, might collapse if the leader were to leave because in the eyes of
their followers, success is tied up with the presence of the charismatic leader. As such, charismatic leadership
carries great responsibility, and needs long-term commitment from the leader.

6. Democratic Leadership or Participative Leadership

Although a democratic leader will make the final decision, he or she invites other members of the team to
contribute to the decision-making process. This not only increases job satisfaction by involving employees or
team members in what’s going on, but it also helps to develop people’s skills. Employees and team members
feel in control of their own destiny, and so are motivated to work hard by more than just a financial reward.
Democratic leadership can produce high quantity work for long periods of time. Many employees like the trust
they receive and respond with cooperation, team spirit, and high morale.
As participation takes time, this style can lead to things happening more slowly than an autocratic approach, but
often the end result is better. It can be most suitable where team working is essential, and where quality is more
important than speed to market or productivity
7. Laissez-Faire Leadership

The laissez-faire leadership style is also known as the “hands-off ¨ style. It is one in which the manager
provides little or no direction and gives employees as much freedom as possible. All authority or power is given
to the employees and they must determine goals, make decisions, and resolve problems on their own.

This French phrase means “leave it be” and is used to describe a leader who leaves his or her colleagues to get
on with their work. It can be effective if the leader monitors what is being achieved and communicates this back
to his or her team regularly. Most often, laissez-faire leadership works for teams in which the individuals are
very experienced and skilled self-starters. Unfortunately, it can also refer to situations where managers are not
exerting sufficient control. The advantage of this kind of style is positive only in the case when the employees
are very responsible and in case of creative jobs where a person is guided by his own aspirations. In these cases,
less direction is required so this style can be good. This style has more disadvantages because usually it is the
result of the lack of interest of the leader that leads to his adopting this style. It proves poor management and
makes the employees lose their sense of direction and focus. The disinterest of the management and leadership
causes the employees to become less interested in their job and their dissatisfaction increases.

8. Bureaucratic Leadership

This is style of leadership that emphasizes procedures and historical methods regardless of their usefulness in
changing environments. Bureaucratic leaders attempt to solve problems by adding layers of control, and their
power comes from controlling the flow of information. Bureaucratic leaders work “by the book”, ensuring that
their staff follow procedures exactly. This is a very appropriate style for work involving serious safety risks
such as working with machinery, with toxic substances, at heights or where large sums of money are involved
such as cash-handling.

In other situations, the inflexibility and high levels of control exerted can demoralize staff, and can diminish the
organization’s ability to react to changing external circumstances.

The different leadership styles discussed above proves that leadership styles are the characteristics that critically
define the leaders in organizations. They’re a mix-and-match of various traits, and go a long way influence the
culture of the whole company and or organization.

Creating effective Organizational Designs

When you hear the word “Matrix” you either 1) think of Morpheus and Neo or 2) cringe at the bureaucracy
caused by your company’s matrix management structure. And while nothing can be done to keep your mind
from wandering to the Wachowski brother’s trilogies, we do believe that good organizational design can be
done to ensure an effective organizational structure.

1. Make sure your senior leaders are aligned

Your senior leadership team isn’t necessarily part of your matrix, but they do need to set the example for the
rest of the organization by modelling what it looks like to work together. Visible joint leadership is crucial, and
your senior team needs to lead by example, showing how they link arms toward a common end. After all, if you
senior leaders can’t play nice with each other, how can you expect the rest of the organization to collaborate
effectively?

2. Clearly define roles, and stick with those definitions

The more clarity you can bring to people’s roles, responsibilities, and what they will be held accountable for,
the more likely people will reach the performance levels you envision. Continuity in a role is also important, so
avoid the temptation to change things up at the first sign of trouble. Remember that people need time in their
roles and reporting relationships to build skills and develop the confidence to perform well in a matrix
environment.

3. Stop assuming the worst

A matrix environment depends on trust. So you need to encourage a belief in benevolent intent. Instead of
assuming associates are out to undermine each other, your culture should support respect, positive regard for
others, and genuine care for each other’s agendas. Creating this type of culture can be easier said that done. But
it starts at the top, with leaders showing how they work with, instead of against, each other to get the job done.

4. Expect conflict; don’t avoid it

Conflicts over priorities, resource allocation, and differences in opinion come with the matrix territory. And
your organization needs to learn how to manage it in a healthy way. It’s important for everyone to feel
comfortable expressing dissenting opinions. But at the end of the day, people need to clearly understand the
decision making process and their role in that process. In other words, they need to know when a decision is
theirs to make, and when it isn’t.

5. Understand the whole

There is the iconic scene in which Morpheus offers the red pill to Neo, saying that if he takes it he will
understand “just how deep the rabbit hole goes.” In a similar way, the matrix structure can broaden perspective
and understanding. It’s important for the people working in the matrix to see the broader landscape of all that is
happening at their company. When they do, they can more easily stand in their colleagues’ shoes and see things
from others’ perspectives. Seeing the big picture also helps people better understand with whom they need to
share information and who should be involved in decisions. When people are aware of the way their area
affects other areas in the system and vice versa, the parts work more successfully and productively than they
would have alone.

6. Learn from experience

Organizations that make the matrix work spend a good deal of time reflecting, questioning, and being curious
about why things failed. Your organization needs to give the people involved in the matrix the space and
freedom to analyze their experiences, both individually and collectively, and the flexibility to retool when
necessary to put what they’ve learned to work.

Effective Organizational Structures

Clearly, an effective organizational structure takes work and commitment to succeed. But it can deliver
significant benefits for your organization, not least of which is getting everyone aligned and working together
to move your business forward. If you invest the time to ensure your organization has what it takes to support a
matrix, you’ll be rewarded with a business where people truly do have each others’ backs, and where your
people successfully work together toward the common good.

Managing innovation and fostering Corporate Entrepreneurship.

 UNIT 8- Technical Standardization

Information Partnerships
A partnership is a kind of business where a formal agreement between two or more people is made who agree
to be the co-owners, distribute responsibilities for running an organization and shares the income or losses that
the business generates.
In India, all the aspects and functions of the partnership are administered under ‘The Indian Partnership Act
1932’. This specific law explains that partnership is an association between two or more individuals or parties
who have accepted to share the profits generated from the business under the supervision of all the members or
behalf of other members.

Features:

1. Agreement between Partners: It is an association of two or more individuals, and a partnership arises from
an agreement or a contract. The agreement (accord) becomes the basis of the association between the partners.
Such an agreement is in the written form. An oral agreement is even-handedly legitimate. In order to avoid
controversies, it is always good, if the partners have a copy of the written agreement.
2. Two or More Persons: In order to manifest a partnership, there should be at least two (2) persons possessing
a common goal. To put it in other words, the minimal number of partners in an enterprise can be two (2).
However, there is a constraint on their maximum number of people.
3. Sharing of Profit: Another significant component of the partnership is, the accord between partners has to
share gains and losses of a trading concern. However, the definition held in the Partnership Act elucidates –
partnership as an association between people who have consented to share the gains of a business, the sharing
of loss is implicit. Hence, sharing of gains and losses is vital.
4. Business Motive: It is important for a firm to carry some kind of business and should have a profit gaining
motive.
5. Mutual Business: The partners are the owners as well as the agent of their firm.  Any act performed by one
partner can affect other partners and the firm. It can be concluded that this point acts as a test of partnership for
all the partners.

6. Unlimited Liability:  Every partner in a partnership has unlimited liability.

Types:

A partnership is divided into different types depending on the state and where the business operates. Here are
some general aspects of the three most common types of partnerships.

 General Partnership
A general partnership comprises two or more owners to run a business. In this partnership, each partner
represents the firm with equal right. All partners can participate in management activities, decision making, and
have the right to control the business. Similarly, profits, debts, and liabilities are equally shared and divided
equally. 
In other words, the general partnership definition can be stated as those partnerships where rights and
responsibilities are shared equally in terms of management and decision making.  Each partner should take full
responsibility for the debts and liability incurred by the other partner. If one partner is sued, all the other
partners are considered accountable. The creditor or court will hold the partner’s personal assets. Therefore,
most of the partners do not opt for this partnership.

 Limited Partnership
In this partnership, includes both the general and limited partners. The general partner has unlimited liability,
manages the business and the other limited partners. Limited partners have limited control over the business
(limited to his investment). They are not associated with the everyday operations of the firm.
In most of the cases, the limited partners only invest and take a profit share. They do not have any interest in
participating in management or decision making. This non-involvement means they do not have the right to
compensate the partnership losses from their income tax return.

 Limited Liability Partnership

In Limited Liability Partnership (LLP), all the partners have limited liability. Each partner is guarded against
other partner’s legal and financial mistakes. A limited liability partnership is almost similar to a Limited
Liability Company (LLC) but different from a limited partnership or a general partnership. 

 Partnership at Will
Partnership at Will can be defined as when there is no clause mentioned about the expiration of a partnership
firm. Under section 7 of the Indian Partnership Act 1932, the two conditions that have to be fulfilled by a firm
to become a Partnership at Will are:

 The partnership agreement should have not any fixed expiration date.
 No particular determination of the partnership should be mentioned.  
Therefore, if the duration and determination are mentioned in the agreement, then it is not a partnership at will.
Also, initially, if the firm had a fixed expiration date, but the operation of the firm continues beyond the
mentioned date that it will be considered as a partnership at will.

Indian partnership act 1932

Most of the businesses in India adopt a partnership business, so to monitor and govern such partnership the
Indian partnership act was established on the 1st October 1932.  Under this partnership act, an agreement is
made between two or more persons who agree to operate the business together and distribute the profits they
gain from this business. 

Advantages:

 Easy formation – an agreement can be made oral or printed as an agreement to enter as a partner and
establish a firm.
 Large resources – unlike sole proprietor where every contribution is made by one person, in
partnership, partners of the firm can contribute more capital and other resources as required.
 Flexibility – the partners can initiate any changes if they think it is required to meet the desired result or
change circumstances.
 Sharing risk – all loss incurred by the firm is equally distributed amongst each partner.
 Combination of different skills – the partnership firm has the advantage of knowledge, skill,
experience and talents of different partners.

Examples:
Few co-branding partnership examples are listed below:

 Red bull and gopro

 Spotify and uber
 Levi’s &pinterest
 Maruti suzuki
 Hindustan petroleum

National Information Infrastructure and IT Policy at the National Level

Introduction

The production and use of information technology (it) is increasingly recognized by national leaders as a vital
component of global competition. This technology, both in processing and communications, is now woven into
the fabric of the economic and social life of developed countries and is a major focus of national investment in
newly industrialized countries. Developing countries are playing catch-up by making significant increases in
spending for it in the hopes of not being left behind in the global struggle for competitive advantage. National it
policy has become a center of debate. The debate rages between those who claim that national policy should
serve only to help the robust private sector take the lead (nelson, 1993; world bank, 1993) to those who argue
that concerted national government intervention can achieve rapid progress (dedrick and kraemer, 1995; flamm,
1990; kraemer, gurbaxani and king, 1992; kraemer and dedrick, 1994a; schware, 1992). Where active
government intervention is recommended, policy choices are frequently portrayed as bimodal, favoring either
production or use, rather than interrelated and mutually reinforcing. The arguments on all sides seem
compelling, making the problem of policy making extraordinarily difficult. In most countries, national leaders
are being asked by various constituents to take a strong stand on the IT policy issue, but there is very little
reliable guidance about what stand to take.

Definition of NII
The internet is the forerunner of the NII and is evolving to be a major part of it. However, the NII is conceived
to be much broader than the internet. The information infrastructure task force has called the NII "a seamless
web of communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that will put vast amounts of
information at users' fingertips" (information infrastructure task force, 1993). This web is expected to provide
new ways of learning, working and interacting with others—it will create whole new ways of doing things.
These somewhat nebulous claims do not arouse much concern outside the u.s., but the presidents' council on
competitiveness in 1993 made a much bolder assertion: the information infrastructure of the 21st century will
enable all Americans to access information and communicate with each other easily, reliably, securely and cost
effectively in any medium—voice, data, video—anytime, anywhere. This capability will enhance the
productivity of work and lead to dramatic improvements in social services, education and entertainment
(council on competitiveness, 1993).