Part 4: Information Systems Management

Chapter 11

Structure, Governance, and

Ethics

Copyright 2016 Pearson Canada Inc.

Copyright 2016 Pearson Canada Inc. 11-1

 Running Case

When Akbar started his company, there were

very few competitors in his industry
Now, he has to think how to respond to these
new competitive challenges
Akbar could respond to competition by
becoming the low-cost solution for his clients
or by differentiating the services that his
company supplies
Starting his business, he was responding to
opportunities, now he has to chase them
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 Study Questions
1. How is the IT department organized?
2. What jobs exist in IT services?
3. What is IT architecture?
4. What is alignment, why is it important and why
is it difficult?
5. What is information systems governance?
6. What is an information systems audit, and why
should you care about it?
7. What is information systems ethics?
8. What is Green IT, and why should you care
about it?
Copyright 2016 Pearson Canada Inc. 11-3
 How is the IT department organized?

Most organizations rely on information

technology (IT) services
All these services -- email systems,
accounting applications, desktop computers,
and mobile devices -- used in an organization
require some form of technical support
The department of people who support this is
often referred to as IT Services or
Information Systems Services

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 Typical Senior-Level Reporting
Relationships

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 What About the Web?

The Web has had a significant impact on the

organization of IT departments
Traditionally, IT department was responsible
for designing and maintain a website
This task now belongs to marketing
department to keep up with branding and
control of content while IT provides technical
support for the website
Creating well-designed company web pages
requires knowledge of branding and
marketing, plus technical skills
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 What jobs exist in IT services?

IT industries have a wide range of interesting

and well-paying jobs
Some think that the industry consists only of
programmers and computer technicians who
have great technical skills
The reality is that most jobs that are in the
highest demand in the IT industry require a
mix of interpersonal and technical skills
The industry needs people who can bridge
the knowledge gap between computer
technicians and business system users
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 Job Positions in the Information
Systems Industry

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 Jobs in IT Services

The data, procedures, and people

components of IS require professionals with
great interpersonal communication skills
For most technical positions, knowledge of
business specialty increases marketability
High-paying jobs require communication,
leadership, and business skills
For students, a dual major can be an
excellent choice to open up opportunities

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 Organizational Strategy and
Information Systems

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 What is IT architecture?

IT architecture is the basic framework for all

the computers, systems, and information
management that support organizational
services
Enterprise architect creates a blueprint of
an organizations information systems and
the management of these systems
organizational objectives, business processes,
databases, information flows, operating systems,
applications and software, and supporting technology

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 A Framework of Enterprise
Architecture

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 What is alignment, why is it
important, and why is it difficult?
Process of matching organizational
objectives with IT architecture
Ongoing process -- fitting IT architecture to
business objectives is continuous challenge
Measured as the degree to which the IT
departments missions, objectives, and plans
overlapped with the overall business
missions, objectives, and plans
Communication between business and IT
executives is the most important indicator of
alignment
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 What is information systems
governance?
Goal of IS governance is to improve the
benefits of an organizations IT investment
over time
Reporting structures
Review processes
Improve quality
Reduce service costs and delivery time
Reduce IT risks
Better support business processes

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 Creating Benefits from IT Governance

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 The Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the
Budget Measures Act
Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) in USA and
Budget Measures Act (or Bill 198) in Canada
Require management to create internal
controls sufficient to produce reliable financial
statements and to protect the organizations
assets
e.g., separation of duties and authorities
Expose both management and the external
auditor to financial and criminal liability

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 What is an information systems audit,
and why should you care about it?
Examination and verification of a companys
information resources that are used to collect,
store, process, and retrieve information
including organizations IS policies and
procedures
Many firms offer IS audit services
Control Objectives for Information and
Related Technology (COBIT) is a
framework of best practices designed for IT
management
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Why Should You Care About Information Systems
Governance and Information Systems Audits?

Increased need to report and disclose IS

operational information will require
employees at all levels of an organization to
become more familiar with the issues facing
information technology management
Senior business managers are required to
make assertions about the controls on IS that
will expose them to both financial and
criminal penalties

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 What is Information systems ethics?

Information systems ethics is about people

involved with the system, not hardware or
software
IS ethics is about understanding our own
behaviourthe way we think and act in
situations where our choices affect others
Ethical principles
United Nations Declaration of Human Rights
Canadas Charter of Rights and Freedoms
Association of Computing Machinerys code of ethics

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 MIS in Use

Sarbanes-Oxley: Boon or Bane?

Goal to strengthen and upgrade financial
reporting, and thus maintain and improve
trust in public companies financial reports
Large companies expect to divert more than
15 percent of their IS budgets to Sarbanes-
Oxley compliance
Sarbanes-Oxley Act will provide full
employment for internal and IT auditors

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 MIS in Use Questions
1. In your opinion, will millions, perhaps billions of
dollars be wasted in unnecessary compliance
with SOX and the Budget Measures Act?
2. In the long run, will these acts hamper North
American corporations that must compete
internationally against corporations that are not
burdened by them? Will they ultimately work to
reduce investor choices?
3. Given the requirements of SOX, do you believe
that a privately owned company would have an
incentive to choose to become a public
company?
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 What is green IT, and why should you
care about it?
Green IT (green computing) - using IT resources
to better support the triple bottom line for
organizations
The triple bottom line - a concept that expands
the notion of traditional financial reports, which
are based solely on financial performance, to
take into account ecological and social
performance
Primary goals to improve energy efficiency,
promote recyclability, and reduce the use of
materials that are hazardous to the environment

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 Green IT

Green IT considers the effects of choices on

people and the environment
ENERGY STAR program - is an international
government/industry partnership to produce
equipment that meets high-energy efficiency
specifications or promotes the use of such
equipment
E-cycling or the recycling of electronic
computing devices

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 What Do YOU Think?

The Ethics of Misdirected Information

Situation A: Buying a condo, a competitive
bidding, and overhearing a conversation
Situation B: Receiving information in an email
Situation C: Selling computer software and
receiving internal mail on price negotiation
Situation D: Receiving sensitive email from a
friend
Situation E: A network administrator receiving
confidential email

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 What Do YOU Think?
1. Answer the questions in situations A and B. Do your
answers differ? Does the medium by which the
information is obtained make a difference? Is it easier to
avoid reading an email than it is to avoid hearing a
conversation? If so, does that difference matter?
2. Answer the questions in situations B and C. Do your
answers differ? In situation B, the information is for your
personal gain; in C, the information is for both your
personal and your organizations gain. Does this
difference matter? How do you respond when asked if
you have read the email?

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 What Do YOU Think?
3. Answer the questions in situations C and D. Do your
answers differ? Would you lie in one case and not in the
other? Why or why not?
4. Answer the question in situation E. What is the essential
difference between situations A through D and situation
E? Suppose you had to justify your behaviour in
situation E. How would you argue? Do you believe your
own argument?

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 What Do YOU Think?
5. In situations A through D, if you access the information,
you have done nothing illegal. You were the passive
recipient. Even in situation E, although you undoubtedly
violated your companys employment policies, you most
likely did not break the law. So for this discussion,
assume that all these actions are legal.
a. What is the difference between legal and ethical?
Look up both terms in a dictionary, and explain how
they differ.

Copyright 2016 Pearson Canada Inc. 11-27

 What Do YOU Think?
b. Make the argument that business is inherently
competitive, and that if something is legal, then it is
acceptable to do it if it helps to further your goals.
c. Make the argument that it is never appropriate to do
something unethical.
6. Summarize your beliefs about proper conduct when you
receive misdirected information.

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