To comprehend the obstacles encountered by Denny Brown, it is crucial to take into account his personal experiences. Brown holds the position of chief information officer at Pinnacle West (PWC), a company that possesses Arizona Public Service (APS), a significant energy utility provider. APS is also engaged in owning and operating the Palo Verde Nuclear Power Generating Station. This power facility, as emphasized in the case, formerly held the distinction of being the largest in the United States and played a vital role in providing power to the southwest region.
During the recent economic recession, the company’s vice-president and CIO, Denny Brown, expressed his perspective. Brown highlighted successful initiatives at PWC and his achievements in establishing a process-oriented atmosphere in the IT services organization. He strongly believed that a CIO’s responsibility is to transform the business, leading him to continuously improve the company’s transformation process.
The individual initially faced challenges in achieving his goals, which led him to leave APS and work at IBM for around 10 years during the 1990s. Despite his desire to establish a process-oriented organization at PWC, he eventually came back to APS after almost a decade but had difficulty grasping the CIO’s objectives right away. When he rejoined the company in the early 2000s, he encountered the task of integrating numerous new employees into his department, necessitating an extended period of adjustment.
In summary, Brown is facing a critical point in his process-oriented strategy for PWC as noted on page 10. He needs to overcome challenges in making decision resources easily accessible and come up with a plan to expand the implementation of this strategy throughout PWC. Furthermore, he must evaluate the readiness of other companies for adopting this strategy. Brown might also face difficulties in resolving miscommunications between the business people and the information technology department. Page 10 of the case emphasizes the inherent interaction between IT and business.
Obviously, the IT employees rely on the business people’s understanding of requirements, but the business people lack the knowledge of the technology and its capabilities. It is crucial for Brown and his IT organization to address this communication gap. How can they do this? By adopting a grassroots strategy, which means implementing or driving changes from the bottom levels up. This strategy aligns with Pinnacle West Cooperation’s emphasis on process orientation. The CIO of PWC suggests organizing the company in a more oriented approach.
Due to a lack of formal metrics in the information technology organization, CIO Brown realized that individuals were relied upon for knowledge. This highlighted the need for improvement or restructuring not just within the IT organization, but for the entire enterprise. As employees from various departments are a fundamental aspect of a company, implementing a process-oriented system can help guide grassroots business people to adopt a formal and correct approach.
Hence, due to the variations among individuals, it becomes impossible for them to fully comply with strict rules. Therefore, it is crucial and immediate for the enterprise to endorse a substantial process orientation in its reengineering. This process orientation encompasses both general business people and IT workers, underscoring the significance of establishing a grassroots strategy for creating process orientation. Not only is a process-oriented system essential for the information services organization, but other departments within PWC can also develop their own process-oriented approach.
Alternatively, managers can also encourage the adoption of process orientation. Due to their position of authority, managers can directly guide employees at the grassroots level. Implementing a grassroots strategy within an organization requires significant investment in terms of both financial resources and time to train employees. However, the objective of promoting process orientation is to drive it from the bottom-up and ensure its successful implementation. PWC has effectively implemented a grassroots strategy to popularize process orientation. For instance, PWC has developed a framework in APS for their IT department as part of their process orientation efforts.
Three aspects of the foundation, namely security, budget management, and service performance, contribute to achieving high availability and high service levels. The strategy revolves around the motto “Technology drives business. Business is a moving target.” This strategy is supported by professional development and key projects from the core area in the IT strategy framework, which aid in achieving business process transformation. Finally, the focus of business transformation in the innovation area is always on creating process change abilities, methodologies, and equipment.
The three areas in IT process orientations demonstrate that the grassroots strategy has successfully established a solid framework for effectively addressing IT challenges and facilitating comprehensive and rapid business process transformation. The effectiveness of the process orientation is evident, as demonstrated by the framework depicted in Exhibit 2, which showcases the company’s ability to efficiently manage and continually update its information service system.
If the enterprise can reengineer itself at an organized level, it can easily explore and correct company’s problems. For instance, this grassroots strategy revealed that there are two aspects in the foundation area: budget management and service performance. These two basic functions enable APS to monitor its financial situation in a reasonable manner and record feedback from customers on the services provided by the IT department. The innovation aspect also brings new ideas and improves the technology of this apartment consistently.
For the short-term, the sustainability of this strategy lies in its carefully designed and well-suited process for the enterprise during a specific time period. One example is the assessment conducted by APS following the fire at the Westwing substation, which resulted in the destruction of the substation. The study not only identified the extent of damage but also offered noteworthy recommendations. Instead of viewing this assessment solely as an accident report, it would be more appropriate to perceive it as a new process orientation for APS.
The main sections that APS needs to focus on for repair are maintenance basis, work prioritization, equipment maintenance procedures, and data automation. Over the next 2 to 3 years, if APS maintains a process-oriented approach to repairing their burned substation, it will greatly benefit both managers and employees. It is important to note that different grassroots strategies were implemented for a specific period of time. Both the IT service’s process orientation and Westwing’s recommendation strategy were developed for unique circumstances.
Due to the economic recession in the early 2000s, PWC faced difficulties and CIO Brown recently returned from a different company after a long absence. This situation calls for a significant adjustment in his organization. However, if the IT organization continues to promote this framework without making any changes to the finer aspects, Brown’s team would find it challenging to identify their own problems. They might believe that the grassroots strategy is perfectly suited for their needs. As mentioned earlier, this strategy was designed specifically to address a particular issue.
Westwing’s strategy, as well as the recommendations, were only beneficial when the substation was attempting to rebuild the system with a sense of urgency. The formal strategy for a company or department varies over time. While a grassroots strategy can guide an enterprise for a certain duration, it cannot consistently offer significant points and recommendations as the situation and structure of the enterprise change. Therefore, a long-term approach requires more than just one grassroots strategy.
The short-term sustainability of a grassroots strategy is dependent on the timing and may require companies to adjust their strategy flexibly. Should companies be more aggressive in their approach? According to Brown’s belief in process orientation, promoting this strategy could be beneficial and effectively utilized. He also mentioned successful implementation of this model in other enterprises. These beliefs drove Brown to push for a comprehensive agenda, but the previous point raised in the question is valid.
As the CIO of PWC, Brown is concerned about the promotion of process orientation within his IT organization. He is particularly worried about the struggles faced by his team’s human resources. The transformation of IT required a difficult and arduous step to develop. The introduction of a new process orientation led to difficulties in making employees let go of the functional model that had been in place for 50 years. Despite this, the functional model had proven to be very effective within the IT service organization.
Despite the favorable circumstances, people felt comfortable and hesitant to embrace any changes. Brown’s worry was primarily about the high cost of the functional model and its lack of responsiveness to change. This hesitation justified Brown’s concerns, and if he wishes to be more forceful in advocating his agenda across the entire enterprise, his strategy may not prove effective. The IT employees’ steadfast adherence to the functional model means that aggressive promotion tactics will only breed resentment towards his agenda.
Both the IT organization and the rest of the company are unfamiliar with Brown’s proposal. This lack of familiarity is not only present among IT members, but also among the business people. If Brown wants to promote the agenda throughout the whole company, the resentment from these business people may have a more negative impact. It is important to recognize that individuals have distinctive attitudes towards things, human beings, and commodities. Therefore, forcing people to accept ideas and conform to the agenda is an inappropriate approach as it can result in an opposite impact.
Despite IT employees lacking motivation for process orientation, CIO Brown finds a forced approach to proposing an agenda unsuitable. Instead, he may encounter hesitations when implementing a top-down strategy. A more sensible approach would involve reducing the promoting step and persuading employees with the advantages of the agenda. The functional model, although outdated, cannot be completely abandoned. Employees can gradually adapt to the new agenda and shift their focus from the functional model to process orientation simultaneously.
