[AISWorld] CFP Special Issue on Business, Strategy and IT Alignment - JIT Teaching Cases

[Martin Santana]

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

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*THE JOURNAL OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TEACHING CASES *

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*Special Issue on **Business, Strategy and IT Alignment***



*Editors:  Jerry Luftman**, **Lazar Rusu,** **& Martin Santana*



Alignment’s importance has been well known and well documented by
academics, researchers, and consultants since the 1970’s. Over the years,
it has persisted among the top-ranked concerns of IT and business
executives. *The purpose of this special issue is to provide valuable
lessons learned from cases that demonstrate **best practices in Business-IT
Alignment.*



The impact of IT in today’s dynamic industry and technical environment may
be made clearer by considering some of the ways IT can affect the business.
Information Technology can help an organization by being an *enabler or
driver* of success or it can hurt an organization by being an *inhibitor or
bottleneck*.* *In the extreme, positive case, IT can have a
transformational effect on a business; IT can change a business in the area
of process, product, service, management, and even environment.



Alignment can be defined as the application of IT in an appropriate and
timely manner, in harmony with business goals, strategies, and needs.
Enablers and inhibitors are those characteristics of an organization that
serve to either enhance (enable) the alignment of IT and the business
goals, or reduce (inhibit) this alignment. It is important to recognize
that alignment does NOT address how IT is aligned with the business; it is
how IT and the business are aligned with each other.



Alignment is a prerequisite for IT to be able to transform the business and
in some cases actually *drive* the business strategy. Therefore, for the
student to become a leader, rather than simply a manager in an IT
organization, an understanding of this key opportunity is necessary. *The
issues of alignment among the business and IT organizations and how they
have been addressed (especially related to implementing strategic IT
initiatives) will be an important focus of this publication of cases. *



Issues surrounding the gap between business and IT functions may emanate
from the technological work performed by IT people. It could be the
perception of business people that IT personnel are geeks or trolls in the
basement is propagated by an attitude of “technology for technology’s sake”
generated by IT people, and the continuous use of “technical language” when
discussing opportunities.  The IT world may have resisted pressure to learn
how its skills and tools impact the organization’s goals, and has assumed
an attitude that technology is good and more technology is better.  The
situation is compounded by the fact that IT people have their own
vocabulary, much of it consisting of acronyms, and even acronyms nested
within acronyms.  Often the problem is the result of business people not
understanding IT or what their role should be in leveraging IT.



IT can enable, drive, or inhibit every business activity on a daily basis.
IT personnel come into contact with every aspect of the business, at every
level of the organization. The business processes are mirrored by and in
some cases embedded in the Information Systems that support them.  Once
Information Technology is embraced as an instrument of business strategy
and enablement, the ability of IT to impact the entire value chain of an
organization can provide Strategic Advantage.



One of the most important missions for IT management in the 21st century is
to be *architects* of aligning business and IT. The metaphor of
architecture is chosen because IT strategy is *not* just about technology –
it is about the purposeful creation of *integrated* environments that
leverage human skills, business processes, organizational structures, and
technologies to transform the competitive position of the business.
Offering new products and services via information technology is another
important transformational vehicle. Considerable recent research has shown
that the effectiveness of the linkages relating IT and business are
critically important to achieving and sustaining competitive advantage in
today’s hyper-competitive global markets. When these areas are aligned –
i.e., mutually supporting – a company’s ability to respond to increasingly
uncertain and evolving markets (the external environment) is significantly
enhanced. This can help companies define entirely new markets or set the
standard of excellence in their industry.



This special issue on IT business alignment cases will provide examples of
successes and failures that demonstrate the importance of the IT business
relationship. For this special issue, specific areas of interest include,
but are not restricted to:



   - Best Practices in Business-IT Alignment
   - Effective Communications
   - Demonstrable Competency/Value Analytics
   - Applicable Strategic, Tactical, and Operational Governance Processes
   - Successful Partnerships
   - Deployable Leading Edge IT Services; Scope & Architecture
   - Successful Skills/HR Initiatives
   - Exemplary IT Strategy Planning Activities
   - Enablers and Inhibitors to Alignment
   - Models for Managing Change
   - Lessons in Organizational Design
   - Strategic IT Initiatives (e.g., moves to digital business)



*The Teaching Case: *

For examples of teaching cases we are looking for see The JIT Teaching
Cases electronic journal *http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jittc/* The
following offers guidelines, but please enquire if you believe you have a
good submission that does not follow these exactly e.g. a shorter case or
unusual subject. A teaching case is usually 4000-12,000 words in length
(e.g. shorter cases for undergraduate teaching or longer for postgraduate
and MBA), has illustrations, and quotes where appropriate, and is based on
real life circumstances. Aspects of the case may be anonymised where
information is particularly sensitive, and would hinder publication
otherwise. The teaching case can be based on primary research, but also on
secondary sources. We are looking for cases that are up-to-date, though
they may also include the history of how the organization or events reached
their present point.  A teaching case should be written to promote
discussion of the issues raised, setting out problem areas, giving enough
history and detail, and raising questions at the end. The teaching case
should be as complete as possible, and be written and presented
attractively. Submission should be of the Teaching Case itself, and in a
separate document a Teaching Note for the case indicating guidance for
teachers including objectives, who to use it with, suggested questions, and
guidelines on answers and further reading.



Submitted papers will be reviewed by the Theme Issue editors and one
further expert reviewer.

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*Deadlines: *

We are targeting the special issue publication for *December 2013*. The
timeline is:



·         Abstracts of case – March 1st

·         Full case and teaching note submitted June 1st

·         Reviews returned - July 1st

·         Second submission August 30th

·         Final Acceptance  September 30th





*Guidelines: *

For guidelines on preparation of manuscripts and criteria for acceptance
please follow the *Journal of Information Technology Instructions for
Authors <http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jit/instructions.html>* (
http://www.palgrave-journals.com/jit/instructions.html). The length of  the
teaching case should be between 4000-12000 words (including abstract and
references). The teaching Note must cover objectives,
questions/assignments, and a detailed discussion of how the case can be
used, including frameworks, content that can be used and an analysis of the
case



All submissions should be sent in MS Word format to:
A.H.Yeates at lse.ac.ukand also to the special issue editors.

*Theme Editors details: *
  Prof. Jerry Luftman

Global Institute for IT Management

Fort Lee, New Jersey USA

luftman at hotmail.com


*Assoc. Professor Lazar Rusu*
Stockholm University
Isafjordsgatan 39, Forum 100, 164 40 Kista, Sweden
lrusu at dsv.su.se



*Prof. Martin Santana*
ESAN University
Lima, Peru
msantana at esan.edu.pe
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