The strategic alignment in an organization refers to the adequacy and functional integration between external and internal environments to develop skills and maximize organizational performance. In this work, was use the model of Luftman (2000) to analyze the maturity of the strategic alignment, which assesses the relationship of IT with the planning area through a five-level scale, based on six criteria: communication, metrics , governance, partnerships, technology and human resources. According to author, the stronger integration between areas, the highest maturity level of alignment. Was chose to perform this study in two federal universities in the state of RS that have different contexts: one was founded in 1960 and has your processes structured and another was instituted in 2005 and their processes are in developing and consolidation. Departing from this context, the main objective of this dissertation was stipulated that identify the level of alignment between Strategic Planning and Information Technology in both IFES. To achieve this goal, was chose to use the method of multiple case study through a qualitative research of a descriptive nature. The results lead to the identification of different levels of alignment maturity in the institutions, and the institution with longer foundation and more established processes to reach a higher level of maturity regarding the institution with shorter foundation and processes being consolidation. / O alinhamento estratégico em uma organização refere-se à adequação e integração funcional entre ambientes externo e interno para desenvolver as capacidades e maximizar a performance organizacional. Nesse trabalho, foi utilizado o modelo de análise da maturidade do alinhamento estratégico de Luftman (2000), que avalia o relacionamento da área de TI com a área de planejamento através de uma escala de cinco níveis, tendo como base seis critérios: comunicação, métricas, governança, parcerias, tecnologia e recursos humanos. Segundo esse autor, quanto mais forte a integração entre as áreas, mais alto o nível de maturidade do alinhamento. Optou-se realizar esse estudo em duas Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior do interior do estado do RS visto que as mesmas apresentam contextos distintos, sendo que uma foi fundada em 1960 e possui seus processos já estruturados e a outra foi instituída em 2005, passando atualmente pelo processo de elaboração e consolidação de seus processos. Partindo-se desse contexto, foi estipulado como objetivo da dissertação, identificar o nível de maturidade do alinhamento entre PE e TI nas duas IFES. Para atingir esse objetivo, optou-se por utilizar o método de estudo de casos múltiplos, através de uma investigação qualitativa de natureza descritiva. Os resultados obtidos levaram à identificação de níveis diferenciados de maturidade do alinhamento nas instituições, tendo a instituição com maior tempo de fundação e com processos mais estabelecidos atingido um nível maior de maturidade em relação a instituição com menor tempo de fundação e com processos em fase de consolidação.

Business-IT alignment (BITA) has clearly become more important over the last decade. However, considerable difficulties remain when attempting to achieve a mature level of BITA. Therefore, research efforts which have resulted in a number of theoretical models have been able to help in devising and applying supportive tools for assessing different components of BITA. However, most of these efforts have either been produced in Anglo-Saxon countries or have been based on specific experiences in those countries. Consequently, they have tended to ignore a number of factors which differ in nature due to variations in cultural contexts. However, organisational culture has been given little consideration. Societal and organisational cultural aspects of BITA are particularly important because the majority of BITA models tend to focus more on the efficiency and effectiveness of BITA components rather than on trying to create ways in which how BITA can be achieved or maintained in different contexts. Therefore, the purpose of this thesis is to investigate the impact of societal and organisational culture on achieving BITA and influencing its maturity. The main result is an extended BITA model developed originally by Luftman, known as; Luftman’s Strategic Alignment Maturity Model (SAM), which is influenced by the organisational culture perspective. The research method and process advocated by Peffers et al. (2007) is used in the thesis to design the extended-SAM, consisting of six activities. The first of these activities involves identifying specific problems. This is achieved by an extensive literature survey of theories related to BITA, an explorative study of the impact of organisational culture on BITA and a classification of the general limitations of BITA. The second activity concerns the requirement for definitions of the designed artifact. The third activity is then specified in terms of designing the artifact; i.e. an extended-SAM. The design is based on constructed hypotheses of the potential impact of organisational culture elements (based on Smit et al.’s model (2008) on BITA attributes (based on SAM), and followed by an empirical study of 6 multinational organisations, for testing the hypotheses. Following that, in the fourth activity, various processes for extending SAM are demonstrated in different seminars within the IT management group at DSV, in conference papers and in different seminars of the Swedish research School of Management and Information Technology (MIT) (Forskarskolan Management och IT. In the fifth activity, the extended-SAM model is evaluated in 5 multinational organisations to test its practicality and utility. In the last activity, a journal paper (Paper III in the thesis) is presented to summarise all the processes. The communication is also carried out through pre-licentiate and the licentiate seminars. The extended-SAM shows in the result of the thesis that organisational culture is a clear factor that should be considered while assessing and studying BITA maturity. In addition, by considering organisational culture, assessing BITA is clearly shown as being more accurate and as reflecting a more detailed picture of the organisation’s BITA.