IT Departments
OK, here’s a thought. Corporate IT departments are preventing the
adoption of new technologies. It’s not my idea, although I have good
reasons to agree, the idea comes from
www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?
command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9034898" onclick="javascript:urchinTracker('/outbound/br_/_www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?_br_/_command=viewArticleBasic_amp_articleId=9034898');">Computerworld, a well
regarded source if there is such a thing.
If you think about corporate structures for a minute then the idea
shouldn’t really surprise. After all most corporations are self
serving entities and a key component of corporate governance is
managing risk. One strategy that often seems to prevail is adopting
change management policies, yet this strategy when coupled with an
inflexible internal structure (ie no movement of management personel)
is ultimately counter-productive. Inevitably managers will slow the
rate of change down to one they can comfortably handle. Changes that
are evolutionary become preferred since that is more easily managed,
changes that have a more revolutionary impact have a much more
difficult path.
The bottom line seems to be this, no one really likes a lot of
change. IT departments are no exception. People who are comfortable
with a changing environment or who are change agents themselves are
the very people most unlikely to be in managing positions. The larger
the organisation, the more likely they are to resist change.
Microsoft is a good example. They produce stuff which doesn’t really
challenge the IT world, they wait for good ideas to gather some
acceptance before they adopt them as their own and they make a
bucketload of money out of selling you essentially the same idea time
and time again. Sure there are some bright people and some clever
ideas inside the organisation, but it is a huge corporation running
along fairly conventional lines.
You do have to wonder about some of the other IT heavyweights such as
google. Are they simply replicating the microsoft model with a
different skin?