Principles of information Systems in Business and Organizations

Overstock.com is one of the largest inter-net base companies in the world, and the success of their
business is closely tied to the proper operations of their information system and how effectively it is able
to process their customer’s orders. I applaud Shawn Schwegman, Chief Information Officer for
Overstock.Com, for his courage to admit that his company had some obvious problem with their
information systems network, and the processing of customer’s orders, but I think that he should have
handle this situation a little better and more professionally. Was it good organizational politics for
Overstock.com's CIO to act as he did? No! This action was not handled as an executive should handle
this type of situation. First, you should make the CEO aware of the problems, and what the actions you
have taken to correct it, no supervisor or manager would like to be blind-sided by an email or letter
stating short falls of their company. Do you have any better political advice to extend to him? Yes, I
would advise him, first to find out what is cause of the problem, and a solution, and how to avoid
something like this in the future, and establish a plan of action and milestones to correct the problem,
with build in milestone dates to check the status of the progress of the project. Although, it is easy to
provide answers to a problem when you are on the outside looking in, but the one thing that any person
who is in charge of a department or a project manager, should keep the manage in the loop of certain
problems and situations that are affecting the businesses efficiency and its profits.

The Chief Information Officer for Overstock.com, was totally wrong for providing too much information
about his companies shortfalls with its database and computer problems. Although, he did make them
aware of the problems, but I feel he should have handled this situation more professionally. The first
thing he should have done when he discovered the problems, was to inform the CEO, and also should
have provided a solution for the problem or at least a short-term solution. Once, the CEO was made
aware of the problem, he should have gotten together a working group to found out what was causing
the problem, and what was the best option to correct the problem. Then once this was done, he should
have presented this information to CEO, then he could have made the determination on how the rest of
the board of directors would be notified. Then I think the next step should have been to notify the
investors and also make the customers aware, because they are the ones who have been affected the
most by this problem. Although, Shawn Schwegman, though he was doing the right thing, he still failed
to properly inform the top leadership within his company, and chose a poor way to inform them of the
problem, and did not offer a short and long term solution, and corrective measures to ensure that this
problem does not happen again.

Do you have any better political advice to extend to him? Yes. The only way to properly handle a
situation like this is to ensure that all of essential persons are properly informed of the situation, and
provide them with the all the pertinent information about the problem and a detailed solution. When
you are dealing in today’s cooperate politics, you should ensure that you are properly prepared and
informed on what your job description is and what authority you have in your position. Office politics
can either enhance or ruin your career, if someone is not aware or equipped to deal it. I am not a great
fan of cooperate or office politics, but I have to make sure that I am aware of what is going on in the
office and the business or I be kept in the dark about upcoming events or changes that are gong to
happen in the office or company. Nevertheless, the CIO for overstock.com was not well-equipped or
knowledgeable office or corporate politics or how to handle certain situation within his organization,
which ultimately ruined his career with the company.

No matter what stand we take on the problem that CIO of Overstock.com, he was totally wrong in the
way he handled the problem with the oracle and Vcommerce database issues the company was having,
he should have provide some incite to the CEO and received some guidance on how to inform the other
board of directors and company executives. No leader or head of an organization would like to be
informed via an email letter of the major problems that company is having with some of its major
databases, that affect customer’s receiving products they have ordered. As a leader within the
company Shawn Schwegman should have handle this problem on a more professional level, and also
provided a solution to the problem, with a timeframe of with the problem would be fixed.