COMMITMENT IN IT STRATEGY

Another important part of the strategy is the commitment so in that way the…

 Commitment has become so fundamental to IT strategy because the hypercompetitive

nature of the information age has converted strategy into a war of movement.

In other words, is important because being committed helps a company to take advantage over its
competitors.

So…

• IT strategy as commitment means that one understands that IT strategy must be

concerned with the nonhuman, but for the nonhuman to succeed, the human issues of
building and sustaining commitment must be addressed to minimize friction.

To have this commitment is necessary to have a plan, then we have the

Commitment Planning

A commitment plan is a specific set of actions taken to establish and sustain credibility. It is a set of
actions taken to alter beliefs and redirect the actions of others in support of your technology
strategy.

Commitment planning is necessary to move from pretense to effort and from muddling mediocre
performance to exceptional strategic performance.

In summary, we could say that if we want commitment in our strategy and with our company is
necessary a plan, because we need to see the aims and how we’re going to achieve them.

TYPES OF COMMITMENT

Commitment can be divide into three different types which are….

• Intellectual commitment is the rational understanding of an effort. It appeals to logic and

reason and is normally the easiest to obtain.

• A person who is intellectually committed is a person who understands the flow

of thinking and evidence that supports the initiative and is satisfied with that
chain of thought.

• Emotional commitment represents how an individual feels about an initiative. Emotional

commitment is a very personal type of commitment, and the same set of actions will
conjure up as many responses as people being affected.

• Emotional commitment is a very personal type of commitment, and the same

set of actions will conjure up as many responses as people being affected.

• Political commitment is the willingness of individuals to use their organizational power to

make something happen.
 • some political groups will perceive the strategy as a threat, some will prefer the
status quo, and even those who would win by successful implementation will
often be cautious due to the risks associated with obtaining a new political
order.

Commitment Design

The objective of a commitment strategy is to build, sustain, and compound organizational and
individual commitment to your technology strategy by overcoming overt and benign intellectual,
emotional, and political opposition.

This design is composed by 8-step process.

STEP 1: A TECHNOLOGY PLAN

An IT strategy will require a commitment strategy if its realization will materially alter the status
quo.

The people won’t be committed to actions if they don’t have a satisfactory level of intellectual,
emotional, and political commitment.

STEP 2: BARRIER ANALYSIS

A Barrier Analysis Table should be developed, creating a matrix of strategy objectives against
anticipated barriers to success.

Here we need to compare how many barriers we have between our objectives and our no
commitment.

Step 3: Political Groups Segmentation

Each political group should be segmented and analyzed as to its potential commitment to the IT
strategy. Emotional or intellectual commitment levels could also segment groups, but political is
the preferred grouping.

• What defines the group? What are the attributes that create this grouping of people?
What is their agenda?
• What is their interest? What public and private agendas are they trying to achieve?
• What are the group commitment levels? Where do they stand on each type of
commitment as well as their overall commitment reaction to the strategy?

Step 4: Commitment Map

each political group should be placed on the commitment map. This visualizes the current
commitment levels that are con fronting you—H (high) or L (low).

STEP 5: ROOT CAUSE ANALYSIS

Root cause analysis is built on the medical model of illness diagnosis.

Root cause analysis should be done for both supportive and adverse political groups.

STEP 6: COMMITMENT ACTION DESIGN

Commitment action design is the heart of the commitment design process and the most creative
activity.

Step 7: Document Commitment Objectives and Actions

As is expected in documenting objectives and actions, both require a target date and method of
measurement, to verify that it has occurred.

Step 8: Commitment Execution

The commitment actions are converted into implementation programs and associated projects.

IT STRATEGY AS STRUCTURE

One of the most visible parts of IT strategy is organizational structure. People work as individuals,
in groups, and in teams within the context of an organizational structure.

For most employees, strategy is equal to organizational structure, or more precisely, the changing
of organizational structure.

Is necessary to understand that some strategies are part of the organizational structure and others
don’t but sometimes they can be associated because the organizational structure is one of the
parts to achieve something.

Information-age it organizational design has the following pressing objectives:

• Heightened collaboration.

• Speed in everything.

• Responsiveness.

• Flexibility.

• Innovation.

• Permeability.

• Leverage.

• Execution.
• Spontaneity.

• Accountability.

• Authority.

• Control.