Information
Randy Mott is the Executive Vice President and Chief Information Officer of Hewlett-Packard Development Company. Before he was appointed by HP, he previously worked as the Senior Vice President and CIO for Dell – a major competitor of the company. His knowledge, skills, competencies, and experiences have been the major reason why HP eyed him for the EVP and CIO positions. (Ewalt & Rashid, 2005) Aside from the responsibilities that Mott plays within the organization, his major task was to oversee the strategies and approaches for Global Information Technology system and assets. Since his involvement with HP, Mott has transformed the structure, culture, competitive advantage, and performance of HP, providing opportunities for the company to develop and expand in order to realize organizational goals and objectives. (“Randall D. (Randy) Mott,” 2008)
Organizational Structure of HP
Prior to Mott’s arrival in the organization, IT functions and global operations were melded as a unified department or area within HP. Mott’s involvement with HP has ushered changes in the organizational structure of the company. HP has opened up to segmentation of tasks and responsibilities as it divided the roles of IT operations and global operations. (Butler & Roster, 2005) This move by the organization was complementary to earlier changes implemented by HPs CEO, Mark Hurd. Hurd’s plan was motivated by the need to cut cost and expenditure as a means to stabilize the finances of the organization. In the past, HP was known to have struggled against its competitors as it failed to obtain greater advantage over them, freezing the company’s growth and development, most especially in the aspect of financial growth. (Krazit, 2005) With this in mind, Hurd realized the need to restructure the organization and decided to hire Mott, a knowledgeable and experienced individual, to implement structural changes within HP.
Mott has taken over the dimensions of IT under the global context and applied his knowledge, skills, competencies, and experiences in order to improve the system. Mott’s familiarity of structures within organizations, from involvement with Wal-Mart and Dell in the past, challenged the organizational structure of HP positively. One of Mott’s recommendations was to restructure the control and influence of the members of the organization. Decision-making processes were conducted hierarchically, such that major pronouncements were concluded by the CIO. Mott was greatly engaged in fine-tuning the global IT system of HP by working independently and immersing himself in the process. Most of the resolutions were planned and implemented by him. (Doyle, 2008)
Mott also assembled a team of the most knowledgeable and competent colleagues to establish his autonomous global IT organization in HP, following the dismissal of more than 14,500 members of the organization (Crum, 2005). Mott believed that the organization should be structured in such a way that only the most competent and productive members will be appointed to crucial positions. (“Stopping the Sprawl at HP,” 2006) Due to Mott’s ideal perspective on organizational structures, he was able to augment the organization’s executive assets. He appointed highly competent executives and chief officers whom he worked with in the past – people who he trusts and believes in to deliver the mission and vision of HP as an organization.
Organizational Culture of HP
Organizational culture in HP has changed in so many ways due to Mott’s interventions. Mott advocated for an organization that values the quality of performance, and not its tangible aspects. (Krazit, 2005) This change followed the termination of thousands of members of the organization to focus on the fortification of the quality, and not the quantity of performance. By hiring a few highly competent individuals to the organization, the value of reaching the company’s full potential lies in the performance and productivity of these individuals and not in their capacity to accomplish a job due to their population as members of HP. Mott traded magnitude for excellence.
Performance and productivity then becomes a discipline, not just a role or task that one plays to carry out goals and objectives. Delivering quality performance and being productive has become a way of life, due to HPs high dependence to few but excellent members of the organization. This becomes their motivation to give off what are expected from them as HP shows how they are valued because of their individual knowledge, skills, and competencies, and not because they are part of a large group of individuals who work for HP. This allows the members of the organization to esteem their jobs within the company. (Burrows, 2005)
Mott’s ideal views of the organization also ushered the concept of performance and productive under the context of time. Mott and Hurd came up with the idea that accomplishing organizational goals and objectives timely is more highly efficient than focusing on the phase of analyzing possibilities, risks, threats, etc. Due to their perception of time and productive, HP adapted the culture of getting things than at a faster pace, rather than planning what the company needs to do. Practices and operations are being carried out according to time limits leading to the accomplishment of numerous plans and projects. (“Stopping the Sprawl at HP,” 2006) For Mott, success is measured by the speed of HP to accomplish plans and projects. (Doyle, 2008)
In terms of the technical aspect of the company, Mott recommended that the value for IT be central in determining the success of the organization. He suggested that the organization adapt IT as a part of its culture – a company that highly relies on IT, not only as a means to support business systems but to help it grow and reach its fullest potential. IT is more than just a supplementary system that organizations incorporate in their business practices and operations. On the contrary, IT is the heart of all business practices and operations. (Doyle, 2008)
Overall, Mott’s leadership and management of global IT in HP gave birth to a company culture that regards the quality of performance, the rate of productivity in terms of speed, and IT systems being employed as highly important to realize organizational success.
Competitive Advantage and Performance
Due to the structural and cultural changes within the organization, HP has experienced a jolt in its competitive advantage and performance. Structural changes have proved beneficial to HPs competitive advantage over other organizations. The performance and quality outputs of the organizations have slowed down in the previous years prior to the involvement of Mott as the EVP and CIO of global IT. However, since Mott has recommended that HP cut cost by laying off thousands of workers and employing only the most highly efficient, knowledgeable, skilled, and competent workforce, the organization was able to come up with the best results based on the desirable performance outputs of its members.(Krazit, 2005) When compared to the previous performance of HP, outputs were more desirable and efficient since the human capital was selected from only the best individuals as compared to the employment of thousands of individuals who gave off mediocre performances and work outputs.
HPs reliance on speed in terms of the accomplishment of plans and projects has transformed the planning and development process. The number of projects was cut down from thousands to only hundreds. Planning out thousands of plans and projects makes the work environment stressful, resulting to sluggish work behavior. Mott worked on limiting projects within the hundreds margin along with the provision of reasonable dues and deadlines. Through this process, the organization became aware of the need to address problems and threats by accomplishing projects and plans at a faster pace. Mott believed that problems will only get worse with the passing of time. This particular change within the culture of the organization improved HPs performance in terms of the quality and quantity of work outputs. (“Stopping the Sprawl at HP,” 2006)
HPs reliance on IT has also improved the performance and increased the competitive advantage of the organization by providing relevant and timely information that will determine the strengths and weaknesses of the company. Valuing IT within the business system and working on improving it will provide the organization an opportunity to grab hold of reliable and valid information that will help its members make decisions, organize plans, implement plans efficiently, manage operations and processes at ease, and evaluate the business system as a whole fully. Through IT, the organization is able to determine what it lacks and what factors hinder its realization of goals and objectives. Insights from IT will help HP address identified problems and issues at once delaying possible risks, threats, or undesirable outcomes. (Doyle, 2008)
Conclusion
Changes brought about the restructure HP and the leadership and management skills of Mott have transformed the company’s inactivity to growth and development. Mott has structured the executive talent of HP and has adapted a performance and technology-oriented culture in order to mobilize the organization to realize its full potential. The result was the implementation of sound practices and operations in terms of performance and productivity and the identification of problems and barriers to accomplish organizational goals and objectives.
References
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http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/071408-randy-mott-leads-overhaul-of.html?page=2
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