Decision-Making and Information Politics - Essay Example

? Decision-Making and Information Politics (Case) Introduction The adoption and the exploitation of advanced technological advancements have been witnessed to provide adequate support to the contemporary business organizations for accomplishing their predetermined business objectives. The rapid pace of introducing innovative technological advancements significantly influences the global marketers to empower their technology-driven decision making procedure concerning different business aspects (Symons, 2005). Therefore, the primary purpose of this report is to briefly demonstrate IT governance structure and decision-making procedures of American Public Human Service Association (APHSA). Moreover, the report would also focus on highlighting the advantages and disadvantages of the IT governance system of APHSA and justifying one specific improvement to this system or structure. IT Governance Structure and Decision-Making Procedure in APHSA Establishing a generous and a strong governance structure can be duly considered as one of the primary aspects for any organization within its information management plan (Bois, Boyd & Shadid, n.d.). In relation to APHSA, the IT governance structure tends to play a critical role in providing child-welfare information complying with the needs as well as the desires of its stakeholders. The IT governance structure of the agency tends to design various processes, measures as well as level of authorities in order to strengthen its key operations and strategies. Moreover, the IT governance system of APHSA also ensures to build strong interrelation with different groups of stakeholders with respect to the decision-making procedure along with the method of resolving potential issues associated with diverse child-welfare associated activities (American Public Health Service Association, 2013). Advantages and Disadvantages of IT Governance at APHSA IT governance can be termed as an effective process through which an organization likely to make decisions around IT investments for smooth conduct of different organizational functions. The major parts of IT governance can be categorized into various aspects such as the process by which the decisions are adopted along with how the consequences of the decisions are measured as well as supervised (Ironbridge LLC, 2007). With reference to the IT governance structure of APHSA, it is often observed that the agency tends to incorporate adequate liability and transparency concerning efficient conduct of various child-welfare related activities. A few of the major advantages and disadvantages of IT governance structure at APHSA have been discussed hereunder. Advantages The IT governance process enables APHSA to improve its decision-making procedure towards enhancing its child-welfare settings and efficiency. In relation to the primary objective of governance specific information and technology functions, the agency is likely to enhance the process of IT value and alignment towards the accomplishment of organizational or business targets. In this regard, the IT value and alignment process in the governance process enables the agency to link it’s operational and management unit with the IT segment. Moreover, the process also ensures to align different child-welfare projects and activities with strategic objectives of the agency (American Public Health Service Association, 2013). Additionally, enabling transparency and accountability of the organizational processes can also be regarded as one of the major advantageous factors of IT governance arrangement (University of South Florida, 2009). In this similar context, the processes associated within an effective IT governance procedure are likely to provide adequate information that are broadly accessible by dissimilar groups of stakeholders. It also ensures making the authority of APHSA more responsible for raising credibility along with integrity of its different child-welfare activities, financial investments and overall management processes among others (Symons, 2005). Disadvantages Although the integration of IT within the governance system provides adequate support to the organization, it also possesses certain drawbacks that can negatively impact on the overall process of the organizations. The alterations within the IT governing arrangement can be stated as a major drawback for the organizations as it affects their decision-making procedure by a greater degree (University of South Florida, 2009). In relation to APHSA, it has been viewed that the member staffs have often realized to face challenges in supplying adequate reports relating to different child-welfare activities. The changes of IT within the governance system have been identified to create adequate constraints for the staff members to efficiently perform their assigned roles as well as responsibilities by a certain degree (American Public Health Service Association, 2013). Presentation and Justification of Specific Improvement In order to justify one specific improvement in the IT governance structure, it can be affirmed that the above identified disadvantages or drawbacks can impose unfavorable impact upon APHSA in its decision-making procedure. Therefore, the following improvement plan would certainly enable the agency to successfully address and mitigate such drawbacks with the changing IT governance structure. Steps for Improving Employee Potential In order to make employees more competent with the changing IT system, the advisory committee of APHSA should comprise effective leaders in order to enhance the overall performance of the member staffs. In this regard, the integration of program experts or developing IT skills would help the agency to raise the performance level of its staff members at large (Symons, 2005). Moreover, the conduct of appropriate training and development sessions for each member would also enable APHSA to empower its IT governance performance by a certain degree. In this regard, the training and development process would further enable the staff members to efficiently cope with the changing IT infrastructure and also help them to access various child-welfare related data (Ironbridge LLC, 2007). Furthermore, monitoring of employee performance along with their capability of using technological aspects would also facilitate APHSA to meet its desired goals. The monitoring process should be focused on keeping the performance of each member along with their technological competencies that would eventually help the advisory committee of APHSA to track the efficiency of conducting its range of child-welfare associated programs or activities (Symons, 2005). Conclusion The involvement of IT within the governance procedure has long been identified to provide adequate support to the organizations for improving their credibility, integrity as well as transparency associated with various operational activities. In relation to the present day context, the IT governance arrangement of APHSA incorporates adequate values and credibility that makes smooth conduct of its various child-welfare projects and activities. Moreover, the continuous integration of advanced technological features has been viewed to support the agency in obtaining its desired business targets. However, the agency also faced certain crucial constraints due to alterations made in the IT governance structure. In this regard, the improvement plan of increasing the capability of the staff members in terms of performance would enable APHSA to remain its sustainable position in performing child-welfare related programs or activities. References American Public Health Service Association. (2013). Governance structure. Retrieved from http://www.ppcwg.org/information-management-key-processes-governance-structure.html Bois, R. B., Boyd, G., & Shadid, Z. (n.d.). What is IT governance? And why is it important for the auditor? INTOSAI Working Group on IT Audit, pp. 30-35. Ironbridge LLC. (2007). Enterprise architecture and a federated IT governance model. Retrieved from http://www.ppcwg.org/images/files/Federated%20Model%20White%20Paper.pdf Symons, C. (2005). IT governance framework. Retrieved from http://i.bnet.com/whitepapers/051103656300.pdf University of South Florida. (2009). Information technology governance structure. Retrieved from http://generalcounsel.usf.edu/policies-and-procedures/pdfs/policy-0-512.pdf Read More