Align the IT Organization Structure to the Business Strategy Common challenges include: Poor responsiveness: IT has challenges in responding to and meeting customer needs Business perception of IT: IT is perceived as support function and not as a strategic partner Unclear roles: IT staff are uncertain of accountabilities; functions overlap and work “falls between the cracks” Spread of extra-organizational units: Extreme reliance on task forces, committees, special projects, and/or shadow organizations This workshop will help to address those challenges: Determine capabilities needed within the IT organization to align to the business strategy Create an organizational structure to address the objectives of the business and IT Develop a transition plan to implement the organizational structure changes

1. Step 1 Conduct a Current State Assessment
1.1 Set Expectations
1.2 Describe the Context for the IT Organizational Structure
1.3 Identify the Required IT Capabilities
1.4 Create the Organizational Design Assessment Framework
After assessing the current state, you will be prepared to start thinking about what the new IT organizational design needs to achieve:
• Form follows function. Structure follows strategy. Structure exists to enable the strategy and the critical work activities that deliver it.
• Misalignment of the structure of the IT organization with the business’s strategy will have significant consequences on the performance of the IT organization.
• If the IT department is misaligned with the organization’s value discipline, there is likely to be a mismatch of service because the value discipline is synonymous with strategy.
• The right design choices will increase the likelihood that you will build the right organizational capabilities. The design criteria should keep you focused on that goal.
Step 2 Create an Outline of the Target IT Organization
2.1. Define the Work Units
2.2 Create an Organizational Design Outline
After creating the design outline, you will have the foundation for building the target IT organizational structure in more detail:
• Pick the right design choices to increase the likelihood of building the right organizational capabilities.
• Remember that part of a leader’s job is to link units together, and to stimulate collaboration and communication – build this into the design of key leadership roles.
• Choose an organizational design in order to maximize as many of the design principles as possible.
• Remember that accountability is at the heart of organization design. People are answerable for performance on some measured dimension.
Step 3 Design the Target IT Organizational Structure
3.1 Define Key Roles
3.3 Create an Organizational Chart
After having created the organizational chart, you will be in a position to develop the strategy to make the required changes:
• Be clear about the difference between accountability (somebody will be held accountable if things go wrong) and responsibility (having to carry out a task without having to face the ultimate
consequence).
• Management activities do not directly result in productivity. They are an overhead, and span of control determines the size of that overhead.
• The organization should not be designed around the people, except in exceptional cases.
Step 4 Plan the Transition
4.1 Perform an Organizational Gap Analysis
4.2 Determine the Organization’s Readiness for Change
4.3 Create a Transition Plan
After assessing the requirement for change, you will have the foundation for building a transition plan to implement the organizational structure changes:
• Organizations spend enormous amounts of time, energy, and resources on change management. Unfortunately, they often assume that people will simply adjust to new ways of doing things. They
usually don’t.
• To manage risk means you know your end state, know the likely risks that you will encounter, plan for contingency, and stay alert to changes.
Step 5 Create the Change Leader Action Plan
5.1 Create the Change Leader Action Plan
After completing this step, you will be in a position to initiate the organizational transition:
• The role of the change leader has the greatest impact on the organization – poor leadership during a change almost guarantees failure.
• Leaders of successful change spend considerable time developing a powerful change vision: a compelling narrative that articulates the desired end state and makes the change concrete and
meaningful to staff. They create the change vision with staff to build ownership and commitment.
• Engaging staff in developing and delivering a training course is a powerful way to build commitment to the change.
• Know who really matters and what they want or need.