What are some of the factors that determine whether it is the CIO or CEO who makes decisions within an organization? When would the CIO make decisions and why?

AS and A Level Business Studies

Name: JIN QI 210864

Assignment 3

Topic Three

a. What are some of the factors that determine whether it is the CIO or CEO who makes decisions within an organization? When would the CIO make decisions and why?

CIOs (Chief Information Officer) are senior executives responsible for all aspects of their information of company technology and systems. They direct the use of IT to support the company's goals (Magazine of CIO). With knowledge of both technology and business process and a cross-functional perspective, they are usually the managers most capable of aligning the organization's technology deployment strategy with its business strategy. CIOs various related services provided by the information systems department.

CEOs are the executive who is responsible for a company's operations. In an organization that has a board of directors, the "chief executive officer" is usually the singular organizational position that is primarily responsible to carry out the strategic plans and policies as established by the board of directors. In a form of business that is usually without a board of directors, the "chief executive officer" is usually the singular organizational position, which sets the direction and oversees the operations of an organization.

In an organization, CIO and CEO have their own responsibility to look after their job, but sometimes they need to make decision together. Not everybody think the same thing with others. So to determine whether the CIO or CEO to make decisions there are three factors that determine whether the CIO or CEO makes decisions with an organization.

The first factor is perspectives (lecture2, week 8, 615110). The jobs of CIO and CEO are different, so there is the chance having the clashes in perspectives. As a CIO, making the health and state of the information is crucial; the effective and strategic use of common enterprise-wide information requires someone with a cross-functional perspective. And as a CEO, information system is there to support business decisions, because the CEO needs to use the information to support its management and the leadership. When there is a conflict between CIO and CEO make decisions, they need to think of their perspectives.

The second factor is the different personality between CIO and CEO (lecture2, week 8, 615110). The personality involved in the decision making of the CIO and CEO, the different personality can directly to determine the type of an enterprise, and also can be justified by other employees under the management, and do people trust you and like you? If you are a very harsh man and never hear others’ ideas, how do you make the decision let others fallow you? Because often times, it may not be how a project justified is but how well you justified a project to the relevant people. Most time an organization needs someone to be a CIO or CEO with lots of personality to management the information systems.

The third factor is the experience of the CIO and CEO (lecture2, week 8, 615110).

As companies from all corners of the world week to serve international outlets, and cross border acquisitions become more and more common and create large globe corporations, it is frequently expected a CIO or CEO possesses an foreign cultures and an understanding of doing business in different markets,. Knowledge of a specific market, country or language is sometimes required (CIO magazine, the top 10 requirements of the CIO). And the history of failed projects can also as an example to consider how to ...

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The third factor is the experience of the CIO and CEO (lecture2, week 8, 615110).

As companies from all corners of the world week to serve international outlets, and cross border acquisitions become more and more common and create large globe corporations, it is frequently expected a CIO or CEO possesses an foreign cultures and an understanding of doing business in different markets,. Knowledge of a specific market, country or language is sometimes required (CIO magazine, the top 10 requirements of the CIO). And the history of failed projects can also as an example to consider how to make decisions.

The last one is the function priorities of CIO and CEO (lecture2, week 8, 615110). CIOs have taken a leadership role in reengineering their organizations’ business processes and the underpinning IT infrastructures to achieve more productive, efficient and valuable use if information within the enterprise. (CIO Magazine). CIOs usually report to the CEO, and they often have a seat on the executive steering committee or board. While the specific title CIO is generally a clear indication of an IT executive’s senior rank and strategic influence (Magazine of Asian CIO). CEO is a leader of the management and use the information that CIO collect to do the organization, CEO develops the opportunities to the organization and directives from the BOARD and shareholders. So the CIO and CEO have the different leadership with their jobs, when they do the decisions they maybe first to consider what the works do they need to do.

The CIO is a senior executive responsible for all aspect of their companies’ technology and systems, sharing the knowledge creation and collect information to CEOs, justifying expenditure and fighting for a budget for gain the maximum profit to company. So sometime the issues about the technology or the systems CIOs needs to consider what they should do on these issues and make decisions. Such as the hardware and software management, managing information gathering, and processing the systems. The CIOs experience can indicate automatically what the decision they should be made. Because the CIOs have to manage the projects, resources, budgets, vendors and other business partners, they are required to be accomplished team builders, motivators, coaches and mentors, setting priorities, assigning the appropriate resources against priorities, and delivering on time and on budget. The CIO’s opinion can affect the business directly. Those are all the situations the CIOs have to consider and make decisions.

In an organization, successful CEOs and CIOs can make the company become more competitive and effective, this is required to build a good relationship between CEO and CIO. The communication is a good bridge between them, to discuss the strategy, an idea, a thought or a feeling in a clear and appropriate manner is an absolute must (CIO Magazine: what is a CIO?). Add in listening skills as well as strong abilities in negotiation, persuasion, and conflict solution (CIO magazine, the top 10 requirements of the CIO). Establishing and maintaining a strong understanding, rapport, bond and trust between individuals.

b. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using groups to make decisions in organizations.
How might Information Systems support group decision making?

With today’s business organizations have become more and more complex, the managers of the organizations have the responsibility to arrange making decisions, writing reports, attending the meetings and do ending year analysis. In recent decades, people at every level of organizations have become involved in decision making and problem solving through groups. The organizations like to spend time to use one or more groups’ decision making because the organizations can get the good quality information to benefits their business, but at the same time it also have the negative impact.

The most important advantage of group decisions make can make a good quality decisions made (2000 Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario). Group members can share their individual ideas then join the information together is generally a better way. One person only has very poor and limit resource to support himself and solve the problems but if use a small group to talk about it and pick up some common things, that is the decision they have made.

The second of advantage is the decision of group made is better acceptable than just decision made by one person (2000 Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario). For example, if students and one teacher have a chance to be one group to work out a solution for a problem that affects the students, the decision is more accepted by the students than just the teacher talk the solution.

The third advantage is commitment (2000 Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario). The decision have made by specialized person that is more acceptable in which they had put some point of views, it is like the commitment carrying out the decision if they had put into it.

The advantages of group make decision can make the company more competitive and effective, but it still have some negative impacts.

The first of disadvantage of group decision making is waste time (2000 Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario). The group needs to spend time to decide the time to hold the meeting and where, to prepare the materials which use in the group meeting and the meetings themselves also take time if it is not only one meeting.

The conflict of group is the second disadvantage (2000 Prentice-Hall Canada Inc., Scarborough, Ontario). Sometimes in the groups can be dominated by one or few people that lead to the conflict to the rest people. For example, other group members want to go with ideas but some other people against them and insist on their own pint of view. Or sometimes one part of group members makes decisions faster, ignoring the rest people what they thought.

Finally, when a group makes a decision, it is not quite clear who is responsible for the decision. When a decision did not work out very well, if it was made by individual people, that is easy to undertake the responsibility by this person, if the decision was worked out by a whole group, it is hard to consider the exactly person’s responsible.

An organization make decision by a group is hard to say whether is a good way or not, it is need the organization to make a good arrangement to determine which kind of work can be done by individually or by groups. If the organization decide to use the group to make decision to the business, another thing they need to think which the system is can support their groups make decision and how affect them.

The information technology impacts upon the organizations. Analyze the necessity for information systems in the management of an organization (University of Surrey Guildford, courses/cs368/). Decision making can let organization change their business order successfully and in time that can make the business more competitive and efficient. Use the information system to support the company group decision making that the system is called Group Decision-Support System (GDSS). It is designed for groups of people to make decisions together, even allow multiple people (University of Surrey Guildford, courses/cs368/). And it is interactive computer-based system to facilitate the solution to unstructured problems by a set of decision-makers working together as a group rather than individually (Landon & Landon).

Group decision-support systems have hardware, software, and people components. So supporting group decision making can have meetings, use web-based meetings or video conferencing and group ware. Hardware components consist of the conference room facilities, including seating arrangements and computers and other electronic hardware. Software components include tools for organizing ideas, gathering information, ranking and setting priorities and documenting meeting sessions. People components include participants, a trained facilitator, and staff to support the hardware and software (Landon & Landon, p369). A GDSS helps the decision-makers of the organizations meeting together to arrive a t a decision more efficiently and is especially useful for increasing the productivity of meeting larger than four or five people. The GDSS contingent on the composition of the group, the task, tool selection and meeting support, and the organizational context of the meeting.

The organizations can receive the benefits use the GDSS. GDSS are starting to take advantage of more accurate firm-wide data provided by enterprise systems and the new information technology infrastructure to support very fine-grained decisions for guiding the firm, coordinating work activities across the enterprise, and responding rapidly to changing markets and customers (Laudon& Laudon, p370). So large numbers of companies now are choosing the system to support their management decision making, to make right and effective decision it can lead organization to the right direction of their development, making the maximum profit for the business.