After the auditing of the IT systems and infrastructure of the company, we have noted several deficiencies that the IT management team should address to improve operations. First, the company faces the challenge of programmers in the company who are free-spirited. Although you trust the team to have free latitude in developing new applications and modification, a concern arises regarding the lack of office culture and related discipline. Employees can quickly lose track of their responsibility if they have much freedom. You can address the deficiency by creating an office culture and initiating a code of conduct to improve office discipline. Although programmers need to be trusted to perform their work, it is crucial to implement activities that will create responsibility (Myers et al. 44). You should also develop standard procedures for programming and systems development and communicate the same to all programmers and other relevant employees.
Secondly, the team faces a challenge where the company’s programmers work with a new team, which is sometimes unavailable during testing. The primary concern with the procedure is the lack of synergy between the internal team and the contracted programmers. The company risks conflicts between the two groups because of disagreements regarding appropriate practice in programming and testing. For example, internal programmers might differ with the new programmers in terms of the standards and procedures of programming and testing. To address the problem, you should train and develop internal programmers to perform all activities in the systems development cycle to avoid the need to outsource. Skilled employees support the achievement of business objectives (Myers et al. 44). Since the company has experienced software programmers with diverse programming experience, the management should trust and motivate them to take control of the entire programming process.
Thirdly, the IT process faces a risk where only the IT Vice President is responsible for approving the system implementation after testing. While the leader plays a critical role in the implementation process, the company faces a risk, such as resistance because of failure to involve other employees in the execution phase. The management could mitigate the risk by performing a needs analysis to determine the necessities for the new system and engaging all employees in the testing and implementation of the new system. It is critical that all changes made in the IT department are informed by a careful analysis of gaps in the company’s operations or processes. It is also essential that employees affected by the change are involved in providing information regarding their needs and preferences for the new or improved system (Akgün et al. 37). The transformation is critical to creating a learning environment where all employees are prepared and ready to support change.
Fourthly, your company runs a risk of lack of compliance with the change and failure to track the transformation process because of insufficient record of process changes (documentation). The company runs a risk of inadequate responsibility and accountability because the leadership is not privy to information about who was involved with an application or activity within the life cycle of the program. Therefore, the use of standard documentation is critical for the company. You should ensure that all processes, procedures, and activities are adequately documented to prevent the risk. Therefore, in case of a problem at any point, you can easily track the process and identify the responsible person or process (Alglave et al. 2). Hence, the document should specify procedures whenever the programmers are developing a new system or amending the existing one.
Works Cited
Akgün, Ali E., et al. “Team Learning in IT Implementation Projects: Antecedents and Consequences.” International Journal of Information Management 34.1 (2014): 37-47.
Alglave, Jade, et al. “GPU Concurrency: Weak Behaviours and Programming Assumptions.” ACM SIGPLAN Notices, vol. 50, no. 4. ACM, 2015.
Myers, Brad A., et al. “Programmers are Users Too: Human-Centered Methods for Improving Programming Tools.” Computer, vol. 49, no. 7, 2016, pp. 44-52.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
