NOTES FOR ARTICLE 7- DON’TJUSTLEAD,GOVERN:HOW TOP-PERFORMING FIRMS GOVERN IT

Topic and Motivation: Smart IT governance helps enterprises deal with complexity.IT governance is ‘the assignment of decision rights and the accountability framework to encourage desirable behavior in the use of IT’ (Weill, 2001; Broadbent & Weill, 1998) Defining desirable behaviors takes time, effort, focus, cost savings, innovation, growth, reuse, sharing.
IT business value directly results from effective IT governance. Firms with superior IT governance have at least 20% higher profits (ROA) than firms with poor governance given the same strategic objectives.
• Characteristics of High IT Governance Performers
- More focused strategies
• Greater differentiation between customer intimacy, product innovation, or operational excellence
- Clearer business objectives for IT investment
• Greater differentiation between supporting new ways of doing business, improving flexibility, or facilitating customer communication
- High level executive participation in IT governance
• Greater involvement, impact of CEO, COO, Business Heads, Business Unit CIOs and CFO
• Who could accurately describe IT governance arrangements
- Well functioning formal exception processes
- Formal communication methods

Research Questions:
Who has decision rights and inputs?
How can IT governance arrangements can be represented?

Approach:
• Plan it, work it!
- Game plan, self-assessment, project plan
• Establish IT Governance Principles based on overall IT strategy
• Evaluate effectiveness of current IT Governance-like mechanisms, if any do exist either within Corporate or the business units
• Develop Governance processes as appropriate (structural and operational model)
• Establish clear relationship between the various IT Governance components
• Validate IT Governance framework and