IS Leadership Roles

Changes in both information technology and competition continue to change the role of the information systems executive. CSC (1996) has suggested six new IS leadership roles which are required to execute IS’s future agenda: chief architect, change leader, product developer, technology provocateur, coach and chief operating strategist. These roles are described in table 1. Although these roles were produced by the CSC consultancy firm without any scientific approach, they seem very well tailored for scientific investigation into IS leadership roles. People who fill these roles do not necessarily head up new departments or processes, but they exert influence and provide leadership across the organizational structure. When Stephens et al. (1992) selected CIOs for observation, they applied the following criteria:

•Highest ranking information technology executive

•Reports no more than two levels from CEO, i.e., either reports to the CEO or reports to one of the CEO's direct reports

•Areas of responsibility include information systems, computer operations, telecommunications, office automation, end-user computing/information center

•Responsibility for strategic planning of information resources.

As originally conceived, the chief information officer's responsibility would include all corporate information, not just information on computers. Historically, however, the focus of the CIO's job was predominantly information technology. This involves a number of roles including strategic information system roles, the most critical of these being strategic information systems planning [63], strategic management through participation in top management planning teams [65], strategic alignment of business and information systems plans [60], and interpretation of external IT success stories for potential applicability for the organization [22]. In addition to strategic planning, the CIO's responsibilities also include a number of tactical IT roles. These include architecture planning, development, and management; fostering relationships between the information systems department and including the superiors [25], functional units/line managers [63], vendors [60] and end users; and technology champion - gaining support and commitment of top management during the implementation of new technology. In this research, we will use the same selection criteria as Stephens et al. (1992): the highest ranking information technology executive, areas of responsibility include information systems and computer operations, and responsibility for strategic planning of information resources.

Six IS leadership roles (CSC, 1996)

1. Chief architect. The chief architect designs future possibilities for the business. The primary work of the chief architect is to design
and evolve the IT infrastructure so that it will expand the range of future possibilities for the business, not define specific business
outcomes. The infrastructure should provide not just today's technical services, such as networking, databases and desktop operating
systems, but an increasing range of business-level services, such as workflow, portfolio management, scheduling, and specific
business components or objects.

2. Change leader. The change leader orchestrates resources to achieve optimal implementation of the future. The essential role of the
change leader is to orchestrate all those resources that will be needed to execute the change program. This includes providing new
IT tools, but it also involves putting in the place teams of people who can redesign roles, jobs and workflow, who can change beliefs
about the company and the work people do, and who understand human nature and can develop incentive systems to coax people
into new and different behaviors.
3. Product developer. The product developer helps define the company’s place in the emerging digital economy. For example, a
product developer might recognize the potential for performing key business processes (perhaps order fulfillment, purchasing or
delivering customer support) over electronic linkages such as the Internet. The product developer must "sell" the idea to a business
partner, and together they can set up and evaluate business experiments, which are initially operated out of IS. Whether the new
methods are adopted or not, the company will learn from the experiments and so move closer to commercial success in emerging
digital markets.

4. Technology provocateur. The technology provocateur embeds IT into the business strategy. The technology provocateur works
with senior business executives to bring IT and realities of the IT marketplace to bear on the formation of strategy for the business.
The technology provocateur is a senior business executive who understands both the business and IT at a deep enough level to
integrate the two perspectives in discussions about the future course of the business. Technology provocateurs have a wealth of
experience in IS disciplines, so they understand at a fundamental level the capabilities of IT and how IT impacts the business.

5. Coach. The coach teaches people to acquire the skillsets they will need for the future. Coaches have to basic responsibilities:
teaching people how to learn, so that they can become self-sufficient, and providing team leaders with staff able to do the IT-related
work of the business. A mechanism that assists both is the center of excellence - a small group of people with a particular
competence or skill, with a coach responsible for their growth and development. Coaches are solid practitioners of the competence
that they will be coaching, but need not be the best at it in the company.

6. Chief operating strategist. The chief operating strategist invents the future with senior management. The chief operating strategist
is the top IS executive who is focused on the future agenda of the IS organization. The strategist has parallel responsibilities related
to helping the business design the future, and then delivering it. The most important, and least understood, parts of the role have to
do with the interpretation of new technologies and the IT marketplace, and the bringing of this understanding into the development of
the digital business strategy for the organization.

Source: http://csdl2.computer.org/comp/proceedings/hicss/2000/0493/07/04937055.pdf