Ricochet of the Magic Bullet: Revisiting the Role of Change Management Initiatives in IT Governance
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Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
Ricochet of the Magic Bullet:
Revisiting the Role of Change Management Initiatives in IT Governance
Hans P. Borgman Hauke Heier
Leiden University Accenture
h.p.borgman@umail.leidenuniv.nl Strategic IT Effectiveness (SITE)
hauke.heier@accenture.com
Abstract takeover situations. The premium is paid on the
assumption that those organizations manage risks
How can we understand information technology better, recover from setbacks more flexibly, and
(IT) governance projects that combine a mix of develop above average share value growth. Weill &
organizational and process change measures, as well Ross [7] claim that well-governed firms can reap
as IT governance software implementations? With so returns on their IT assets of up to 40% above industry
many IT governance projects underway - of which average. For non-financial success measures,
quite a few are challenged - this question is gaining researchers mainly relied on SEI’s CMMi maturity
importance. This article presents and discusses a model and Luftman’s IT/business alignment maturity
conceptual and operational research model combining assessment model [8].
research in change management, IT governance, and Earlier qualitative [9] and quantitative research [10]
IT implementation success. This research model is has shown the influence of change management factors
used in two contrasting case studies of large-scale IT on the success of IT governance projects. Particularly
governance projects, one with a strong focus on IT to project planning & analysis, executive support, and
induce and sustain change, the other with a strong organizational integration have been identified as
focus on organizational and process measures. The powerful measures to overcome common failure
study analyzes and contrasts each case’s success and points: lack of managerial support, missing objectives
presents a discussion of the underlying reasons, for the tool rollout, unclear processes designs, and
concluding with recommended next research steps. * starting too rapidly with a too big implementation
scope [11, 12].
1. Introduction and Research Question The theory underlying these change management
factors comes mostly from IT implementation research
The purpose of this research is to explore the role of - perhaps not surprising since many IT governance
different change management approaches in IT initiatives involve (or sometimes strongly rely on) the
governance projects. IT governance is concerned with implementation of software tools for supporting or
the set of enabling mechanisms to request, prioritize, enforcing processes. In addition, IT governance
fund, monitor, enforce, and realign IT investment projects can - and typically do - involve other non-
decisions [1], linking it directly with the top three IT software measures to either induce or sustain a change
issues as identified by the 2008 SIM IT Industry Trend and improvement in IT governance processes. In some
Survey IT [2]: business alignment, building business cases software is not used at all. For our research we
skills in IT, and IT strategic planning. IT governance have therefore chosen to build on IT implementation
projects are initiatives aimed at sustained improvement research, as well as on general change management
of IT governance arrangements, and their reportedly research to address the following question: How can
strongly varying degrees of success [3-5] have we understand IT governance projects that combine a
motivated us to explore this area in more detail. mix of organizational and process change measures, as
Why are IT governance projects important for well as IT governance software implementations?
organizations and how do we measure their success? The low success rate of IT development and
For monetary success measures, Lainhart [6] found implementation projects is widely published and
empirical evidence that well-governed enterprises can researched: e.g. in the CHAOS 2009 study [13], the
command acquisition premiums of up to 16% in Standish Group reports that only 32% of all IT projects
can be considered successful (on time, on budget and
with required features), 44% challenged, and 24%
*
The authors would like to acknowledge the useful input of the failed (projects cancelled or results never used).
anonymous reviewers and to thank Lee Yuanshan and Peter
Stiegler, two students who helped to collect research data and to
discuss the research project.
978-0-7695-3869-3/10 $26.00 © 2010 IEEE 1Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
For IT governance projects - with a much smaller findings to our overall research question and presents
base and shorter history - no comparable quantitative next research steps.
studies are published, although Meyer [14] e.g. reports
that the results of many IT governance initiatives are 2. Conceptual Foundations and Framework
“often bureaucratic, imposing oversight and
convoluted approval processes on already burdened 2.1 Research Framework Introduction
organizations. These heavy-handed top-down controls
squelch entrepreneurship, bog organizations down, and For this research, we have adopted the research
drive administrative costs up.” Though the earlier framework used by Heier et al. [3], extended here by
mentioned studies by Heier et al [9, 10] do not deal including additional change management measures and
specifically with project success and failure, they do outcome factors to reflect the broader scope of this
consider the above mention change management current study. The resulting framework is shown in
factors, therefore offering a good starting point for Figure 1. We are particularly interested in the mix of
understanding the IT implementation side of IT IT governance software implementation and non-IT
governance projects. change management factors (discussed in more depth
As mentioned above, our research on IT governance in section 2.2) - as well as in their timing and
projects is not limited to IT implementation research sequencing - and in the more general outcomes of IT
alone and requires us to include general change governance projects, specifically IT/business alignment
management approaches. This includes looking at the maturity (discussed in section 2.3). In Figure 1 we
timing and sequencing of change management factors label the corresponding three blocks as our 'focus
before and during the actual change initiative, as well areas'. The model also covers two additional 'context'
as at change management factors to sustain the after- building blocks which are described below (see [10]
change situation - both short-term and long-term. for a more detailed description):
Particularly relevant in that regard is the so-called IT governance strategies and structures - the first
“magic bullet theory” by Markus and Benjamin [15] on context area - addresses IT strategy and organizational
IT-enabled transformation, linking IT implementation capacities, primarily reflected in the choice between
failure to widespread non-use of change management centralized, decentralized, or federal IT governance
best practices. arrangements [16, 17]. Centralized IT governance
In their article, Markus and Benjamin argue that structures allocate decision-making responsibilities to a
failure to employ best practices in IT-enabled change is central IT function. Benefits of increased coordination
typically due to mistaken beliefs about the causes of and control are offset by more bureaucracy and less
change, in particular the belief in IT as a magic bullet - responsiveness to business demands. Decentralized IT
that technology alone can successfully deliver the governance structures delegate most decision
intended change. Both change management theory as authorities to business unit managers; however, the
well as the “magic bullet” theory will be explicitly flexibility suited for turbulent environments must be
considered in our study. As will be explained in our balanced with standardization tradeoffs. A federal IT
methodology section we have selected two contrasting governance structures maintains central control of
case studies of companies that have chosen different some IT domains while business units can deploy
change management approaches for their IT business applications at their discretion [18].
governance projects; one relying heavily on the use of Environmental contingencies - the second context
IT governance software without many supporting area - is based on Sambamurthy and Zmud’s [19]
measures (i.e. IT as a “magic bullet”), the other more tripartite categorization of influences: corporate
or less the opposite. governance, economies of scope, and absorptive
The remainder of this paper is organized into five capacity [19]. Corporate governance refers to the
sections. In the following section “conceptual already existing organizational control arrangements,
foundations and framework”, earlier research relevant such as firm size, and centralized or decentralized
to the research question is assessed and synthesized. decision-making structures. Economies of scope refer
The third section “research methodology” describes the to corporate diversification modes: internal growth vs.
detailed research approach, the selection of case study external acquisitions. Absorptive capacities reflect the
sites, the data collection and the analysis approach level of IT knowledge in the line management of a
taken. The fourth section “case study results” presents firm. We have added organizational culture as a fourth
and discusses observations and findings from our two element but it remains unclear whether and how fast
case studies, after which the fifth and last section this can be altered [comp. 14, 20].
"conclusions and next research steps" relates these
2Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
Figure 1. Research Framework
2.2 Focus Area: Change Management 22, 23], typically build on the Lewin-Schein change
model. Based on Lewin’s [24] more theoretical
Change management involves both IT as well as foundation, Schein [e.g. 25, 26] conducted a series of
non-IT-related initiatives, including their timing and empirical studies leading to the development of a more
sequencing. In terms of our research model (see Figure concrete model which identified individual factors. The
1) this refers to IT governance processes and software Lewin-Schein change approach - widely acknowledged
modules and change management factors. Following both in descriptive studies [e.g. 27, 28] and prescriptive
our definition from section one, IT governance analysis [e.g. 29, 30] - views organizations as moving
processes cover the following six major decision areas: from an old quasi-stationary equilibrium to a new one.
request, prioritize, fund, monitor, enforce, and realign. In Lewin-Schein’s first stage - “unfreezing: creating
In order to improve these processes, organizations can the motivation to change” - people become aware of
resort to a range of measures such as publishing the need for culture change and see the necessity to
guidelines, training employees, rewarding or punishing deviate from prior behavior patterns and mindsets [31].
behavior, or implementing IT governance software to In this stage, change is introduced - in our case to the
change and IT governance processes. existing IT governance landscape - and employees
Software, in particular, can enforce processes by become aware that the current ways of working, as
automatically routing workflows and decisions and well as roles and responsibilities will change.
escalating exceptions and delays when reaching a Lewin-Schein’s second stage - “cognitive
certain threshold [21]. There are four main software restructuring: learning new concepts and new
modules: demand management, portfolio management, meanings for old concepts” - implies moving the
program/project management, as well as resource/time organization from an old to a new quasi-stationary (IT
management. governance) equilibrium. This is typically a period of
Earlier research [4] has identified a series of confusion and transition where new IT governance
implementation factors which can affect the outcomes mechanisms are implemented. During this phase, IT
of an IT governance software implementation in one governance will become more formalized and will,
way or another. These implementation factors - potentially, reach a higher level of maturity. Success is
clustered into six major categories - are: project dependent on maintaining teamwork and effective
planning and analysis, executive support, user communication with stakeholders [23].
involvement, user training, commitment, and Finally in Lewin-Schein’s third stage - “refreezing:
organizational integration (see [9, 10] for more details). internalizing new concepts and meanings” - the new
Change management approaches related to these distribution of social forces is reinforced to maintain
factors can help to create or sustain change. and stabilize the new quasi-stationary equilibrium [27].
Studies on change management effectiveness, New IT governance structures, processes, and software
including those focusing on IT implementations [e.g. tools are integrated into stakeholders’ ways of
3Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
working. In practice, this can be a slow and painful business strategies, goals and needs”. He adds that
process for organizations as staff struggle with alignment maturity “evolves into a relationship where
unfamiliar new processes and may soon find the function of IT and other business functions adapt
themselves in a valley of despair [32]. While some can their strategies together”.
be trained to familiarize themselves with the new Since its publication, the framework was applied by
changes in order to depart from the valley of despair, various researchers [41-45] and provided important
there are others who attempt to find workarounds in findings around IT/business alignment. To measure
order to return to old familiar ways working. This both short-term and long-term success of IT
could negatively impact IT governance maturity. governance projects, we apply Luftman’s alignment
Though it is now common textbook wisdom that maturity model [46, 47] to compare the alignment
deliberate change management measures can increase maturity of the companies before, during, and after
the success of IT implementation projects, our earlier (both short-term and long-term) an IT governance
reference to Markus and Benjamin's "magic bullet project. Improved IT/business alignment maturity, in
theory" [15] illustrates that this "common wisdom" is this sense, is used here as an indicator of improved
far from common practice. In fact, our own business value from IT. Van Grembergen and De Haes
observations and consulting experience as well as [48] go further, by modeling IT/business alignment as
anecdotal evidence from professional publications a mediator which enables an increase in business value
seems to suggest that belief in the "magic bullet from IT investments.
theory" is on the rise, in the sense that managers and IT The alignment maturity model features six maturity
professionals today seem to put an increasing amount areas - each with five maturity stages. The six key
of weight on IT implementations as change enablers maturity areas are communication, competency and
and less on supporting change management measures. value measurement, governance, partnership, scope
To explore this, one of our two case studies has been and architecture, and skills. Each key area comprises a
selected to match this situation. group of related mechanisms and assessment criteria
which are important for achieving IT/business
2.3 Focus Area: IT Governance Outcomes; alignment. The five maturity stages are initial/ad hoc
Alignment Maturity process, committed process, established focused
process, improved/managed process, and optimized
IT governance projects are aimed at improving the process - the latter being the highest level of maturity.
business value of IT, including both effectiveness and
efficiency. Although the findings by Lainhart [6] and 2.4 Research Proposition Summary
Weill & Ross [7] about better financial performance of
companies with better IT governance are important to Combining the frameworks from Lewin-Schein,
justify these projects, the measurements are too Markus & Benjamin and Luftman, we derive the
indirect and too coarse-grained to be suitable to serve following three working propositions (WPs) as the
as a success criterion at various stages of a change basis for our empirical exploration. The WPs are
process, which is what we need. Based on the more illustrated graphically in Figure 2:
fine-grained frameworks developed around the link • WP1 - Using IT governance software without
between IT and business (value) such as Henderson et preceding or supporting structure/process change
al.’s strategic alignment model [33], and models from measures in an attempt to "move" and "refreeze" an
Smaczny [34], Kearns et al. [35], Bergeron et al. [36], enduring change (improvement) in IT alignment
Strnadl [37], Avison et al. [38], we have chosen to maturity does not work. This proposition is in line
focus on measures of IT/business alignment as a with the aforementioned “magic bullet theory” that
measure of IT governance project success. predicts that users are not sitting ducks and will
The IT Governance Institute defines alignment of dodge the bullets, in that way preventing a painful
business and IT as “whether an enterprise’s investment change and using IT as the scapegoat.
in IT is in harmony with its strategic objectives (intent, • WP2 - Creating an IT alignment maturity increase
current strategy and enterprise goals) and thus building through structure/process changes without using IT
the capabilities necessary to deliver business value” governance software (either as part of the "move"
[39]. For our study we have adopted the quantitative and/or "refreeze" stage) will prevent an enduring
measurement of "alignment maturity" developed by process change, meaning the "refreeze" stage will
Luftman [40] who provides a similar definition, only be partially successful and the long-term
referring to IT/business alignment as “applying IT in alignment maturity will decrease. This proposition
an appropriate and timely way, in harmony with focuses on the later stages of the Lewin-Schein
4Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
been conducted with key IT governance and change
management stakeholders, each lasting some 1.5 hours.
We compiled an interview framework/questionnaire
that is structured into three distinct sections. First,
structural, process, and software-related topics
contribute to the clarification of the chosen IT
governance implementation approach. Second, the
section with change management factors focuses on
moderator variables, looking at the type of change-
management initiative (e.g., IT, process, structure) as
Figure 2. Working Propositions well as the sequence and timing. Third and last,
improvements in IT/business alignment maturity are
model, postulating that without IT governance measured to derive the business value from IT both
software the IT/business alignment maturity will before, during, shortly after, and more long-term after
fall back to a level closer to the initial level. the change initiatives. The interviewees were asked to
• WP3 - Using IT governance software to "refreeze" rate all six strategic alignment maturity dimensions on
the improvement of IT governance maturity will a five-point Likert scale using Luftman's instrument
increase the likelihood of an enduring maturity [46, 47].
improvement. This proposition is related to WP2 Assessments were cross-checked between
but now describing the situation with (!) IT respondents per company and averaged to identify
governance software, postulating a successful possible improvements over time. To support the data
“refreeze” with a long-term increased IT/business analysis activities - and following the advice of Darke
alignment maturity increase. et al. [54], Myers [55], and Weitzman and Miles [56] -
we have employed a special-purpose software tool for
qualitative research, i.e. QSR NVivo. This software
3. Research Methodology package supports non-numerical, unstructured data
indexing, searching, and theorizing. NVivo facilitates
Our literature review, summarized in the previous
the storage, coding, retrieval, and analysis of textual
section, and findings from secondary data - provided
data, as well as theory-testing [57]. It supports case
by consulting projects and interviews with application
study research with its capacity to integrate mixed
vendors - allowed us to build the research framework
research methods by merging quantitative and
[49] and state the exploratory study’s purpose, as well
qualitative data [58].
as criteria to judge a successful exploration [50]. We
posit that a multiple case research approach is suitable
to examine the complex, contextual, and contemporary 4. Case Study Results
nature of change management approaches in an IT
governance context. As Yin [50] states, “[a] case study 4.1 Rio Tinto Alcan - Engineered Products
is an empirical enquiry that investigates a
contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, Rio Tinto Alcan is the aluminum business of Rio
especially when the boundaries between phenomenon Tinto (NYSE: RTP). The unit of analysis for this case
and context are not clearly evident.” study was the engineered products division of Rio
This clearly applies to our research question, since Tinto Alcan (RTA-EP), a relatively autonomous part of
research in this area is in its early, formative stages, the company with a global headcount of 15,000 and a
and we are dealing with practice-based problems where significant presence in Australia, Canada, and France.
the actor’s experiences and the action context are The interviewees at RTA-EP’s Paris headquarters
critical [51, 52]. In 2009, we have conducted two in- included the CIO, the business relationship manager
depth case studies in Europe to gather data - through responsible for IT governance, the IT executive who
document analysis (e.g., governance landscape was responsible for planning and running the initial IT
documentation, project data, and change management governance initiative, and two external consultants.
plans), semi-structured interviews, and direct RTA-EP focused on the implementation of IT
observation. We were also able to use questionnaire governance software to both initiate and sustain IT
data for both companies from an earlier related study governance maturity increases, allowing us to explore
[9, 10]. The triangulation has allowed for cross-check the research working propositions WP1 and WP3.
[53]. A total of 10 semi-structured interviews have RTA-EP’s history - prior to being acquired by Rio
Tinto in November 2007 - was one of strong growth,
5Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
organically, as well as through acquisitions. As a would move into the project phase where the software
result, the IT governance arrangements were strongly supported the organization’s project management
decentralized to allow for local flexibility, with the office (PMO) with all necessary software features. The
exception of a centralized approval by the CFO for new process also mandated that every project above a
projects surpassing a set limit and some informal set number of mandays had to create a cash flow
central knowledge sharing initiatives. In mid 2007, analysis, a risk profile, as well as a value profile. This
fueled by the ongoing global rollout of multiple large led to the optimization of IT portfolio management and
SAP projects, the decision was made to move from a reduced the amount of non-value-adding projects. The
decentralized to a federated model in order to need to compile spreadsheet-based portfolio analyses
harmonize processes, to achieve synergies, and to was made redundant by real-time dashboard
increase business visibility. functionality.
The change team consisted of RTA-EP-internal Resource/time management increased RTA-EP’s
employees and external consultants; the team had to awareness of (internal and external) resource capacities
handle several environmental difficulties such as and facilitated as-is and to-be comparisons. With the
dealing with diverse previously independent working introduction of time-tracking features, budget
cultures and a turbulent business environment that accountability was enforced and key performance
included the takeover by Rio Tinto and ongoing indicators (KPIs) helped to measure performance
discussions about divestitures. As a first step, the against targets set by RTA-EP’s executive
company introduced the IT governance software management. Though the change initiatives strongly
modules program/project management and relied on software to enforce process changes (e.g., “no
resource/time management to support various project time-tracking, no payment of external consultants”),
rollouts. This first phase lasted from September 2007 additional structural alterations were made.
to April 2008. At that time, the decision-making First, an IT governance committee was set up with a
process and the management of IT assets were still quarterly meeting schedule. It comprised RTA-EP’s
decentralized, i.e. there was no central governance business unit leaders, the CIO, and the business
authority. relationship manager. This committee reported directly
The IT governance tool was extended in a second to the division’s CEO and CFO. The task of the
phase - which more formally put a central IT committee was to make decisions on the IT portfolio,
governance initiative in place - with the introduction of on IT assets, procurement strategies, and human
demand management and portfolio management resource (HR) issues. Second, weekly business review
features. This phase, which is where our actual case meetings and bi-weekly investment review meetings
study measurements start, began in May 2008 and were initiated.
lasted until February 2009. To standardize processes Not many other non-IT supporting change
and achieve rapid results, it was decided to introduce management initiatives were employed for the IT
the IT governance software first in its standard, non- governance project. Some executive support and user
customized form. The new demand management involvement took place by demonstration and review
process consisted of three phases completely supported of the processes at management level. The IT
by the software. New IT demands from that moment governance software was, however, implemented using
on had to go through the idea phase and the proposal a top-down approach without any explicit end-user
phase before they could enter the project phase. involvement. User training did take place, conducted
To ensure that all affected stakeholders were both in classrooms and one-to-one sessions on an as-
involved in decision-making, several demand gates had needed-basis. Commitment was ensured through
to be passed before a project request could move to a pooling strong supporters and resisters in teams and
next phase. If the project request passed all gates, it following a step-by-step rollout approach. Adoption
was further enforced by including tool usage into
May 2008 Feb 2009 May 2009 employees’ annual reviews.
Communications 1.7 2.8 3.0 By February 2009 most of the change management
Competency/Value 1.5 3.2 3.7 initiatives were concluded and a period of relative
Governance 1.3 2.5 2.9 stability began. Table 1 summarizes the Luftman IT
Partnership 1.7 3.1 3.2 alignment maturity levels for this case before the IT
Scope/Architecture 1.7 2.7 2.9 governance change initiative (May 2008), shortly after
Skills 1.7 2.8 3.0 (Feb 2009) and in the more long-term stable situation
Total Average 1.6 2.9 3.1 (May 2009).
Table 1. Rio Tinto Alcan EP Alignment Maturity
6Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
4.2 Siemens Global Shared Services-IT four stages: analysis of documents, processes and
standards, followed by the development of concepts for
Siemens AG, headquartered in Germany, is one of processes and workflows, active stakeholder
the world’s largest engineering companies, specializing management, and finally customization and
in three main business sectors: industry, energy and configuration of an IT governance tool. The initiative
healthcare (NYSE: SI). Consisting of 15 divisions, it started in December 2007 with an initial analysis and
has approximately 430,000 employees and global development of the IT governance concept. At this
revenues of more than $110 billion (2008). The unit of point in time, only informal and limited IT governance
analysis for this case study is Siemens global shared arrangements were in place. The project team spent the
services IT (GSS IT), one of the four business lines majority of their time on defining IT governance
within Siemens’ global shared services division. GSS processes, roles, and responsibilities.
IT operates six regional application management Though GSS IT had active executive support from
centers (AMCs) and four infrastructure management headquarters, the project was met with resistance from
centers (IMCs) located worldwide. Headquarters are in regional AMCs and IMCs since they did not want to
Munich. make their internal service lifecycle management
Interviews were conducted with the GSS IT head of transparent. They were reluctant to share information
portfolio management - also responsible for overseeing about demand pipelines, project portfolios, and
the overall IT governance initiative - one of his direct financial KPIs. In order to increase acceptance of the
reports from the central portfolio management newly standardized processes and associated
department as well as one from a regional AMC, responsibilities, selected users from headquarters and
complemented with two external consultants. Contrary regional subsidiaries were involved in the design
to Rio Tinto Alcan, GSS IT’s IT governance project process. In addition, the regional AMC in Vienna was
had a two-phased approach. It focused extensively on picked as a pilot - and as a means to convince and
process design and change management approaches to motivate other regional AMCs and IMCs to adopt the
initiate change before implementing IT governance formal IT governance arrangements.
software to sustain change. The IT governance initiative was concluded in June
GSS IT had a decentralized structure in terms of 2008 and marked the start of the post-change period.
decision-making processes and IT asset management. By then, GSS IT had a global service lifecycle
Each AMC managed its own assets and made management process consisting of six distinct phases,
independent portfolio decisions. As a result, all alignment with internal and external frameworks - e.g.
subsidiaries had their own way of managing service ITIL and ISO 20.000 - as well as a handbook
provisioning - with inconsistent performance across containing detailed process steps, financing models,
AMCs. To standardize service quality and to minimize risk management approaches, and general governance
risks when developing new (costly) service offerings, policies.
GSS IT embarked on an IT governance project to Two IT governance software modules were also
develop a common, harmonized service lifecycle implemented for demand management and portfolio
management process for all AMCs and IMCs. The management. The tool was meant to provide the
ultimate goal was to increase external/customer organization with improved capabilities to identify
transparency. This was done using the existing IMC opportunities and threats at an early stage in the
lifecycle management process as a starting point with a portfolio lifecycle, as well as more immediate alerts
focus on portfolio management. regarding project deviations. Process gates in the
The project team consisted of both external proposal phase of the service portfolio lifecycle also
consultants and internal staff from headquarters and the helped to reduce unnecessary efforts spent on projects
regional subsidiaries. The IT governance project had that might eventually be cancelled by customers.
However, the tool was not immediately used. GSS IT
Dec 2007 Jun 2008 Nov 2008 focused on ensuring that IT governance processes were
Communications 2.4 3.0 2.8 running well first before they started the adoption of IT
Competency/Value 2.2 3.2 3.5 governance software.
Governance 2.5 3.7 3.3 Table 2 summarizes the IT/business alignment
Partnership 2.3 3.2 3.0 maturity levels for this case before the IT governance
Scope/Architecture 2.0 3.0 2.8 change initiative (December 2007), shortly after
Skills 1.8 2.5 2.0 (January 2008) and in the more long-term stable
Total Average 2.2 3.1 2.9 situation (November 2008).
Table 2. Siemens GSS IT Alignment Maturity
7Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
Figure 3. Case Results Within the Research Framework
5. Discussion software (and much less on process change measures)
to "move" and "refreeze" the IT governance processes,
In the following sections we subsequently discuss medium activity in terms of structural changes, and
our findings from the RTA-EP case and the GSS IT minor evidence for change management factors and
case, after which we return to our general research environmental contingencies. The approach followed
question and discuss next research steps. Figure 3 at RTA-EP clearly focused on improving IT
repeats our research framework, showing the overall governance processes through the top-down
changes in the scores for each building block for both implementation of IT governance tools. The structural
of the case studies. changes - e.g. setting up the IT governance committee -
became a necessity with the introduction of process
5.1. Understanding Rio Tinto Alcan - EP changes but they were not change drivers. In other
words, RTA-EP employed a "magic bullet" approach
Looking at the overall outcomes of the IT and was successful, contrary to our "magic bullet
governance project in this case, we observed theory" working proposition WP1 (see Figure 4).
improvements in all six of the Luftman IT/business Focusing in more detail on non-IT change
alignment maturity dimensions. The overall maturity measures, we see that careful project planning and
increase was impressive: starting from 1.6 before the analysis took place but our interviews do not indicate a
IT governance initiative and moving to 3.1 at the time significant effect on the overall project success.
of the research site visit. Although the CIO (the initiator of the IT governance
Considering the change initiatives within this initiative) provided a high degree of executive support,
project we see a strong focus on IT governance special measures for ensuring user involvement and
commitment were lacking.
The possible influence of environmental
contingencies on the overall success of the IT
governance project in his case study is unclear or at
least mixed. Most of the factors listed under that
heading did not change or had no discernable
influence. However, the significant turbulence caused
by the Rio Tinto acquisition, the subsequent economic
crisis and the possible divestiture could either lead to
more or less user resistance as employee morale and
fear of job loss may be affected strongly and
differently, also across countries, departments and
Figure 4. RTA-EP Alignment Maturity Changes
individuals.
8Proceedings of the 43rd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences - 2010
In summary, and with reference to Figure 4, we see defining the IT governance processes gave them an in-
that RTA-EP predominantly used IT implementation as depth understanding of the purposes of the IT
a change measure to both "move" and "refreeze" the governance software.
organization. Whereas, based on the magic bullet Although the software development was more or
theory, one would expect a path similar to that less finished by June 2008, the actual rollout was
described in our WP1, they followed a "road to effectively put on hold as a result of, by then,
success" most similar to our working proposition WP3. incomplete acceptance by the regional centers. This led
to a loss of enthusiasm over time from regional centers
5.2. Understanding Siemens GSS IT that were already on board, leading in a decrease in
overall maturity. Despite this, “competency and value
Referring to Table 2 and Figure 5, we see that measurement” maturity continued to improve as newly
maturity levels for GSS IT in terms of IT/business introduced metrics, which were established for
alignment in all six dimensions improved during the measuring the extent of service provided to the
"move" stage but "refreeze" was unsuccessful and the business functions, could be used even in the absence
alignment maturity dimensions dropped from that point of an IT governance software.
onwards, with the exception of the maturity area In terms of environmental contingencies we
“competency and value measurement”. Overall, GSS identified a few challenges such as a competitive
IT started from a maturity of 2.2 before the IT organizational culture which led to reluctance to share
governance initiative, reached a peak maturity of 3.1 information between regional centers. Nevertheless, we
after the initiative, quickly fell back to 2.9 and argue that the environmental contingencies had no
afterwards failed to stabilize but continued a slow major impact on IT governance outcomes.
slide. All in all, despite comparatively high alignment In summary, and with reference to Figure 5, we see
maturity scores throughout the change initiative, it that GSS IT only used non-IT change initiatives to
would be difficult to call this a complete success. both "move" and "refreeze" the organization.
Revisiting the building blocks from our research Effectively it was successful in this first phase whereas
framework, we see a strong focus on IT governance the absence of IT governance software to "refreeze"
process improvement initiatives (here without IT and sustain the new situation proved less successful.
implementation, contrary to the RTA-EP case) and Unclear is whether the fact that software was expected
attention to many of the non-IT change management but not delivered was instrumental to the unsuccessful
factors, minor evidence for structural changes, and "refreeze". Overall, we see that working proposition
minor change in environmental contingencies. WP2 has the strongest explanatory power.
From our interview analysis we learned that GSS
IT's focus was on driving best practice IT governance 5.3. Conclusions and Next Research Steps
into the organization through IT governance processes
and change management factors. Before the actual This study set out to explore the role of different
change initiative took place, GSS IT ensured support change management approaches in IT governance
from headquarters as well as regional centers. During projects, with an explicit focus on IT and non-IT
the change initiative, employees from GSS IT change measures to "move" and subsequently
headquarters and regional centers worked extensively "refreeze" organizations embarking on IT governance
for 6 months with external consultants to define IT initiatives. The analysis of two contrasting case studies
governance processes, roles, and responsibilities before shows how our research model can help explain the
starting to develop the IT governance software dynamics within IT governance initiatives as well as
modules for demand management and portfolio
management. Such careful project planning and
analysis, with frequent user involvement, facilitated the
introduction of IT governance into the organization.
The establishment of a pilot center in Vienna was
also effective for building commitment and garnering
further support from regional centers that were initially
skeptical about the change initiative. Regional centers
were not coerced into adopting the change, instead they
were given time and hands-on opportunities to
convince themselves of the change benefits.
Furthermore, users were given training to familiarize Figure 5. GSS IT Maturity Profile
themselves with the software. Their involvement in
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