CONCLUDING
CASE:
Stanley Lynch Investment Group
The
Stanley Lynch Investment Group is a large investment firm headquartered in New
York. The firm has 12 major investment funds, Each with analysts
operating in a separate department. Along with knowledge of the financial
markets and the businesses it analyzes, Stanley Lynch’s competitive advantage
comes from its advanced and reliable computer systems. Thus an effectives
information technology (IT) division is a strategic necessity, and the
company’s chief information officer (CIO) hold a key role at the firm.
When the company hired J.T. Kundra as a manager
of technology, he learned that the IT division at Stanley Lynch consists of 28
employees. most of whom specialize in serving the needs of a particular fund.
the IT employees serving a fund operates as a distinct group, each of them led
by a manager who supervises several employees (five employees report to J. T.).
He also
learned that each group sets up its own computer system to store information
about its projects. the problem with that arrangement quickly became evident.
As ). T tried to direct his group’s work, he would ask for documentation of one
program or another. Sometimes no one was sure where to find the
documentation; it might turn out to be stored in an obscure place such as only
on someone’s flash drive. other times he would quickly get three different
responses from three different people with three different versions of the
documentation. and if he was interested in another group’s project or a
software program used in another department, getting information was next to
impossible. he lacked the authority to ask employees in another group to drop
what they were doing in order to hunt down information he needed.
J.T concluded that the entire IT division could serve the firm much better
if all authorized people had easy access to the work that had already been done
and the software the was available. The logical place to store that information
was online. From experience at a previous company, he believed that the easiest
way to compile the information would be to set up a shared web project called a
wiki-an 0nline document created through the collaboration of its users, who can
look up or contribute information according to their knowledge and needs. The
challenge would be how to get everyone to contribute, give that he had
authority over so few of the IT workers.
J. T.
started by working with his five employees to build a wiki offering basic
information presented in a consistent format. then he met with two higher-level
managers who report to the CIO He showed them the wiki and explained that fast
access to information would improve the IT group’s quality and efficiency. he
suggested that the managers require all the IT employees to put their
documentation on the wiki, and he even persuaded them that this behavior should
be measured for performance appraisals. this last tactic was especially
significant because at an investment company, bonuses for meeting performance
targets are a big part of employees’ compensation.
The It employees quickly came toappreciate that the wiki would help the
perform better. When they visited it, they could see from the original
information that it would be useful. Adoption of the wiki was swift, and before
long, the IT employees came to think of it as one of their most important
software systems.
Questions
1.give an example of differentiation in Stanley
Lynch’s organization structure and an example of integrations in this
structure.
Answer:
Example of differentiation in
Stanley Lynch’s: that each group sets up its own computer system to store
information about its projects. Sometimes no one was sure where to find the
documentation; it might turn out to be stored in an obscure place such as only
on someone’s flash drive.
Example of integrations in this structure: would be to set up a shared web
project called a wiki-an 0nline document created through the collaboration of
its users, who can look up or contribute information according to their
knowledge and needs.
2. what role did authority play in the adoption of the wiki by the IT
division at Stanley Lynch?
Answer:
The entire IT division could serve the firm much better if all authorized
people had easy access to the work that had already been done and the software
the was available. The logical place to store that information was online. The
easiest way to compile the information. They could see from the original
information that it would be useful.
3. describe how the IT division used coordination to achieve greater
integration.
Answer:
The IT
division at Stanley Lynch consists of 28 employees. most of whom specialize in
serving the needs of a particular fund. The IT employees serving a fund operates
as a distinct group, each of them led by a manager who supervises several
employees (five employees report to J. T.).