PRODUCTOS AFECTOS A LA TASA DEL 50%

According to McCall (2004), the primary source of learning to lead, to the extent that leadership can be learned, is experience. He argues that the role played by train- ing and other formal programs is relatively modest in comparison to other kinds of experiences. The implication of this belief is rather profound, because it suggests that experiences (mostly assignments) rather than programs should form the core of executive development.

Work experience of CIOs can be captured using three measures: quantitative, quali- tative, and interaction (Dawson & Watson, 2005). Quantitative measures are time- based and amount measures. Time-based measures are the traditional measurement of the length of time spent work in a task, job, or organization and are operational in terms of tenure. Amount measures are the number of times that a task has been performed and reflect the opportunity to practice and perfect the task. However, quantitative measures provide little insight into the value of experience since learning from experience is not automatic. Some people come away with nothing, the wrong lessons, or only some of what they might have learned (McCall, 2004).

The second measure is qualitative. Work experiences are associated with learning when they challenge the individual, and challenge is mostly likely to occur when there is a lack of congruence between the individual’s knowledge, skills, and abilities and the demands of the assignment. Two individuals with equal job, organizational, and position tenure can vary widely in the amount of challenges encountered in their work experience and resulting job performance. Qualitative measures capture this challenge and allow a more full analysis of its value of the work experience. They best represent the specific nature of work situations that contribute to the richness of the experience construct, such as the variety and breadth of tasks and responsi- bilities performed in a job, the types of challenges encountered in an assignment, or the complexity of the task. Qualitative measures may be best represented by the specific nature of work situations that contribute to the richness of the experience construct, such as the variety and breadth of tasks and responsibilities performed in the job, the types of challenges encountered in an assignment, or the complexity of a task (Tesluk & Jacobs, 1998). Qualitative measures might include: (1) unfa- miliar responsibilities; (2) new direction; (3) inherited problems; (4) problems with employees; (5) high stakes; (6) scope and scale; (7) external pressure; (8) influence without authority; (9) work across cultures; (10) work group diversity (Dawson & Watson, 2005).

The third measure is the interaction between the qualitative and quantitative dimen- sions and includes the experience’s density, placement within the career, and criticality of the work experience. Density is intended to capture the intensity of experiences (Tesluk & Jacobs, 1998). High-density experiences have a greater number of chal- lenges within a short time period and are associated with the developmental punch of

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the experience. They are particularly important because they have a disproportional influence on learning and the individual’s career trajectory. They are career-making assignments (Quinones, Ford, & Teachout, 1995).

According to Quinones et al. (1995), work experience refers to events that are expe- rienced by an individual that relate to the performance of some job. They created a framework specifying two dimensions along which work experience measures can vary. The dimensions of measurement mode (amount, time, and type) and level of specificity (task, job, organizational) formed nine separate categories of measures of work experience, as illustrated in Figure 2.2.

When applying the framework in Figure 2.2 to CIO experience, it can be argued that the closer positions and tasks match positions and tasks of a top executive, the more relevant the CIO is as a candidate for the CEO position. For example, an indication of job complexity might be the kinds of people who are involved in the same issues as the CIO.

According to Dawson and Watson (2005), the goal of work experience is to build the knowledge necessary to be successful. This is often referred to as tacit knowledge (Hedlund et al., 2003). Tacit knowledge is a factor of practical intelligence and is expressed in everyday phrases such as common sense. Tacit knowledge results from understanding work experiences and represents an individual’s ability to learn from everyday problems.

Amount Time Type

Organization _{organzatons}Number of Organzatonal _tenure Organzaton _maturty

Position Number of tasks Job tenure Job complexty

Task _{performng a task}Number of tmes Tme on task Task difficulty

Figure 2.2. Framework of work experience measures (adapted from Quinones et al., 1995)

Figure 2.3. Work experience influences CIO effectiveness through tacit knowledge (adapted from Dawson and Watson, 2005)

Work

Experence Knowledge Tact EffectvenessCIO

Dawson and Watson (2005) suggest a causal relationship between work experience and tacit knowledge, and between tacit knowledge and CIO effectiveness, as illus- trated in Figure 2.3. It is assumed that quantitative measures of work experience, qualitative measures of work experience, as well as interaction measures of work experience will all be correlated with a CIO’s tacit knowledge. Furthermore, a CIO’s tacit business knowledge, tacit IS knowledge, tacit political knowledge, tacit power knowledge, and tacit operations knowledge will all be correlated with CIO effectiveness.Most CIO leadership studies use a role-based perspective. Dawson and Watson (2005) present six distinct CIO roles:

1. IT.educator: concerned with ensuring that the human foundations for innova- tion are in place. In this role, the CIO is a champion for computer literacy. 2. IT.contract.oversight: concerned with ensuring that strategic partnerships

with external vendors are optimized. In this role, the CIO negotiates and ac- complishes contracts.

3. IT.support/utility.provider: focuses on classic IT support ensuring that the IT unit is operationally efficient and effective. In this role, the CIO ensures that the IT unit is responsive to customer needs.

4. Integrator: concerned with developing value-added integration among and between business units as well as with external partners. In this role, the CIO directs efforts to build an integrated delivery system.

5. Informaticist/IT.strategist: concerned with developing sound data manage- ment and IT plans and processes. In this role, the CIO ensures that organiza- tional data is secure and confidential.

6. Business.partner/strategist: concerned with issues relating to the greater organization outside of the IT unit. In this role, the CIO helps to shape the organization’s overall mission and vision.

CIO career anchor might have a moderating effect on the relationship between tacit knowledge and CIO effectiveness, as illustrated in Figure 2.3. Career anchor is a concept focusing on the pattern of self-perceived talents, motives, and values, which serve to guide, constrain, stabilize, and integrate a CIO’s career. According to Feldman and Bolino (1996), the career anchor concept suggests that individuals develop “careers within careers” after their true abilities, needs, and values become crystallized through a variety of real-world work experiences. Moreover, once formed, these stable identities (career anchors) have significant consequences for individuals’ career satisfaction and job stability.

The career anchor concept provides four key contributions. First, it proposes that a stable career identity evolves through concrete real-world work experiences. Second, it highlights the variety of careers within an occupation. Third, the differences within

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these career tracks can be as distinct as between those people in entirely different occupations. Finally, as an individual makes choices about jobs, the career anchor functions as a constraining force (Dawson & Watson, 2005).

The.New.CIO.Leader

According to Broadbent and Kitzis (2005), CIOs are at a crossroads and must choose for themselves which path to follow: to become new CIO leaders or chief technology mechanics. Simply maintaining status is impossible, since focusing on managing request queues, keeping as large an IS organization as possible, being wowed by emerging technology, and operating IS divorced from business goals and specific business benefits is itself a choice to follow the path to enterprise irrelevance. For those CIOs who aspire to more, to being integral parts of their enterprise lead- ership team, to having a valued and respected seat at the enterprise strategy table, there is an alternative. This alternative is built on the 10 areas of focus:

1. Understand the fundamentals of your environment. 2. Create your vision.

3. Shape expectations for an IT-enabled enterprise. 4. Inform expectations for an IT-enabled enterprise. 5. Create clear and appropriate IT governance. 6. Weave business and IT strategies together. 7. Build a new IS organization.

8. Develop a high-performing IS team. 9. Manage enterprise and IT risks. 10. Communicate your performance.

The McKinsey consulting firm argues that the next-generation CIO must step up to the new responsibilities of an IT leader (Mark & Monnoyer, 2004). CIOs must delegate or shed some operational duties and spend more time helping business leaders identify and use technologies that will help companies innovate. Next- generation CIOs will (1) ensure that IT is efficient and then make the transition to effectiveness, (2) reengineer relationships with business leaders, and (3) invest in a business committee with technology oversight. A few leading companies have disbanded their technology committees — typically staffed by business managers

and IT staff — and are asking senior-executive committees to take responsibility for IT-investment decisions.

According to Gartner (2005), the keys to being a successful CIO are the same around the world. Like CIOs in the United States, IT executives in Singapore, Sweden, and Germany cite good communication skills, ability to think strategically, and understanding business processes and operations as the skills that are most pivotal for success. Swedish CIOs add “being a good leader” to their list. Like CIOs in the U.S. and Germany, IT executives in Southeast Asia give strategic planning a high priority. But getting it done is less of a struggle for Southeast Asians. They rank finding time for strategic thinking and planning near the bottom in a list of 10 bar- riers to their effectiveness.

CIOs in Canada surveyed by Gartner (2005) spent the bulk of their time meeting with their company’s executives and business partners. Their U.S. counterparts said they spend a good portion of their time with company executives and IT providers. To be successful, most of the respondents (78%) in the survey by Gartner (2005) responded that aggressive leadership is most important. Also, good communication of goals throughout the organization (59%) and agility (59%) are important CIO skills.

Thompson (2005, p. 59), himself a CIO at the Shaw Group, noted the following characteristics of a successful CIO:

To be a successful CIO, you have to be a businessperson first, not an IT person. You have to sit amongst your peers at the executive committee level and stand toe to toe with them on business issues and talk the busi- ness, and walk your talk. That’s the first characteristic that CIOs need to have — an understanding of the business and being able to make sure that you can communicate at the executive level.

The second thing is you need to understand good talent, and be able to hire good people and to surround yourself with good talent... The third characteristic is to walk amongst the people. You can’t expect your staff to do things you’re not willing to do, to go that extra mile.