The aim of this study was to examine how our way of doing gender affect female managers in the male-dominated IT organizations and how the female managers handle the consequences they entail. The study is based on a qualitative research approach where we gathered empirical data through semi-structured interviews. In this study, six respondents with varying experiences of management role within the IT organizations participated. The results are analyzed with the help of previous research and the theoretical framework which included Pierre Bourdieu's theory masculine domination and the West and Zimmerman's theory doing gender. In our study, we concluded that female managers in the male-dominated IT organizations feel the need to adapt to a greater degree than their male counterparts. As a result of the contradictions that exist in the female gender norms versus the role expectations placed on managers, who have a male character, women need to downplay their femininity, including  by adjusting their language.

The authors of this study have both studied at the U.S.B.E. (Umeå School of Business and Economics) for four years. Both of them have had a private interest in IT-organizations business as well as their development possibilities. We know that there exist organizations, which provide services for outsourcing of IT-activities and these are, according to us, simple to use. The purpose with this study is to identify possible limitations and opportunities with outsourcing of specific IT-activities. We want to be able to understand what drives IT- organizations to use outsourcing or not. To be able to do so, we have created a theoretical framework with four different themes containing strategy, service, decision-making and collaboration. This framework has been our line of argument throughout this research. We have a positivistic approach with an objective view, which have influenced this study. This led us to choose a deductive approach to where we started from creating a theoretical framework that concerns our research area. Our theories laid the foundation of the creation of a survey, which was randomly distributed, to 1200 IT-organizations within Sweden. Out of these 1200 organizations we received 133 answers. This data have served as the primary data for study and have been analyzed by us as well with the help of the statistical computer program SPSS. What we have found was that IT-organizations that were using outsourcing today, do it to gain a competitive advantage in being able to focus on their core competence. The organizations had different core competencies but they all had one thing in common, which was that they focused a lot on providing their customers with a high service level. However, they felt a loss in their service capability when outsourcing. This was something they believed to be a drawback. Organizations that did not use outsourcing today saw there was a security risk with outsourcing of sensitive materials to external subcontractors located outside Sweden. Not many of the respondents’ felt that there was a risk for them losing their jobs as a result of outsourcing. Despite this fact, there were more respondents’ that did not use outsourcing today, which felt a bigger threat compared to those organizations that did. The theoretical contribution of the thesis was a combined model of strategy, service, decision-making and collaboration that can help IT-organizations when thinking of whether they should outsource, or not. We believed that the practical contribution was helping the IT-organizations understanding the importance of knowing what their core competence was to be able to gain a competitive advantage, something our respondents’ did not seem to be aware of.

The IT industry’s main capital is not built into plants, buildings or machines, instead the core assetsof this industry is the knowledge of its employees. Within this knowledge intensive industry,organizational learning and efficient knowledge management becomes key for development,productivity and competitive advantage.Moreover, there is a current trend within IT organizations, away from traditional projectmanagement methods towards projects managed agile. One major difference between agile projectmanagement and traditional project management is the type of knowledge that is generated. Dueto this, different strategies and for knowledge management is required in order to achieveorganizational learning. However, there are no established recommendations how this is done inan organization managing projects both traditional and agile. Therefore, this study investigatedwhat strategies and methods to apply to enhance organizational knowledge in a large ITorganization - managing projects using both agile and traditional methods.This has been done by conducting a case study at Scania IT, a large IT company managing projectusing both traditional and agile project management methods. Moreover, the findings from thecase study were triangulated using a benchmark study and expert interviews.This investigation concludes that a personalization strategy is preferably applied in large ITorganizations managing projects using both agile and traditional methods. Furthermore, the studyshows that intra-project learning is the basis from which organizational knowledge can be formed.For organizations using both traditional and agile project management methods, the agile approachof continuous reflections should be adopted in all projects - regardless of project managementmethod - to enhance intra-project knowledge. Furthermore, to extrapolate project knowledge toorganizational knowledge, focus should be put on networks and knowledge carriers. Efficientnetworks will promote knowledge sharing between project while knowledge carriers enableorganizational knowledge to be formed.

Šiandienos programinę įrangą gaminančių įmonių konkurencingumas nemaža dalimi priklauso nuo jų lankstumo ir gebėjimo greitai įsisavinti naują informaciją. Vienas svarbiausių, po žmonių, įmonės turtų yra sukauptos žinios. Tuo tarpu, organizacijos, kuri nevykdo žinių valdymo, turimos žinios didžiąja dalimi priklauso nuo darbuotojų turimų žinių - jiems išeinant, dingsta ir jų žinios. Darbe analizuojamos žinių ir žinių valdymo sąvokos bei su šia sritimi susiję svarbiausi aspektai, formuluojami žinių ir žinių valdymo apibrėžimai, kuriais remiamasi konstruojant žinių valdymo modelį. Taip pat atliekamas su žinių valdymu susijusių procesų, metodų ir veiklų tyrimas bei statistinių duomenų ir prognozuojamų tendencijų Lietuvos ir užsienio IT įmonėse analizė. Apibendrinant atliktos analizės rezultatus yra priimti principiniai darbo sprendimai ir prielaidos. Apibrėžtos konstruojamo žinių valdymo modelio ir jo procesų struktūros. Gautas darbo rezultatas – pasiūlytas detalus žinių valdymo modelis, tinkantis žinių valdymui mažose IT įmonėse vykdyti. Jis sudarytas iš koordinavimo procesų (užtikrina infrastruktūrą) ir pirminių gyvavimo ciklo procesų (vykdomieji žinių valdymo procesai) kategorijų. Pastarosios yra sudarytos iš procesų grupių, kurių kiekviena apima nuo dviejų iki keturių funkciškai susijusių procesų. Savo ruožtu, kiekvieną procesą apibrėžia trijų tipų komponentai (privalomi, tikėtini ir informaciniai). / Nowadays the competition possibilities of organizations in information technologies area strongly depend on their flexibility and availability to adapt new information rapidly. One of the most important, after human, riches is the gathered knowledge. Meanwhile the knowledge of organizations, which are not performing knowledge management processes, are only those their workers have – after they switch the work, their knowledge go out also. This work provides the analysis of the most important aspects and concepts of knowledge management application. Further here the definitions of knowledge and knowledge management, which are used in construction of the knowledge management model, are stated. By discovering useful information in knowledge management area the analysis of processes, activities and methods, related with knowledge management area is proposed. Further the analysis of statistical data and prognosis survey facts regarding the IT organisations in Lithuania and foreign countries are provided in this document too. After that the study of mostly suitable models, standards and strategies are provided. The final result of this work is the provided detailed knowledge management model. Provided model is suitable for knowledge management application in small IT organizations. It is build from coordination process category (ensures infrastructure) and primary life cycle processes category (perform real work with the knowledge). Mentioned categories are constructed from the... [to full text]

<p>The Chief information officer (CIO) position has been seen as very important to every organization; this includes organizations that have either outsourced   or Insourced their IT function. Various studies have shown that this role emerged as a critical executive position in most organization which helps to shape organizations strategy. CIO has a major responsibility of aligning IT with business strategy that leads to an organization achieving a higher competitive advantage. This  work describeD the various roles of the CIO in organizations with a special focus on IT-business strategy alignment.</p><p>Based on our investigations from previous research, case studies and current interviews with CIOs, we were able to see that the CIO roles are shifting from operational to more strategic one. The CIO is seen to be the bridge between IT strategy and business strategy. As a result of this, they have close collaboration with the CEOs in order to be successful in aligning IT strategy to the business objectives. In view of this, the CIO plays the role of both the chief architect who designs future possibilities for business and the technology provocateur (Intelligent officer) that aligns IT with business.</p>

The Chief information officer (CIO) position has been seen as very important to every organization; this includes organizations that have either outsourced   or Insourced their IT function. Various studies have shown that this role emerged as a critical executive position in most organization which helps to shape organizations strategy. CIO has a major responsibility of aligning IT with business strategy that leads to an organization achieving a higher competitive advantage. This  work describeD the various roles of the CIO in organizations with a special focus on IT-business strategy alignment. Based on our investigations from previous research, case studies and current interviews with CIOs, we were able to see that the CIO roles are shifting from operational to more strategic one. The CIO is seen to be the bridge between IT strategy and business strategy. As a result of this, they have close collaboration with the CEOs in order to be successful in aligning IT strategy to the business objectives. In view of this, the CIO plays the role of both the chief architect who designs future possibilities for business and the technology provocateur (Intelligent officer) that aligns IT with business.

Small/medium sized public sector IT organisations combine several characteristics that difficult the effective use of an IT strategy. Research has reported small/medium sized organisations as using unstructured and informal IT management initiatives, which frequently leads to inexistent or incipient use of IT strategy. On the other hand, for public sector the use of robust management is relevant in order to ensure transparency/accountability and facilitate the obtainment of resources. However, the instability that governmental changes create to the management of municipalities as organisation does not contribute to it. With the context described the use of IT strategy is challenged in these types of organisations. IT strategy management discusses the processes/practices to develop, improve and monitor IT strategy. This is a perspective with specific processes and practices at different managerial levels (strategic, tactical and operational) that give a structure in order to produce an IT strategy. This concept provides a systematic alternative to deal with IT strategy that can support to the craft of developing a strategy. The recent introduction of the IT strategy topic in IT service management has made a contribution to this area. Therefore the use of IT strategy management following a service perspective could be a straightforward alternative to deal with IT strategy in small/medium sized IT organizations of the public sector. However, the proposals of IT service management and IT strategy management are defined to be used for IT organisations in a mature stage, which is something demanding and ambitious for the organisations that are being studied. Therefore, this research proposes an approach to use IT strategy management concept with a service perspective in these types of organisations. This thesis presents the research work implemented in order to develop alternatives for analysing IT strategy management practices in small/medium sized public sector IT organisations. The results of this work are two artefacts: a method (AITSS method) and a maturity model. Both artefacts deal with the analysis of IT strategy management using two complementary approaches. The AITSS method proposes an operational-tactical-orientated alternative to address IT strategy management in the context of small/medium sized IT organisations. The maturity model proposes a more strategy orientated alternative for improving the organisational situation of public sector IT organizations. The maturity model can be used to have a perspective of IT strategy management and the assets and environmental factors related to it; the AITSS method can be used to assess more specific practices for IT strategy management at individual level. The method and maturity model were developed following a design science approach from a qualitative perspective, considering as the unit of analysis the IT organisations of the Nicaraguan municipal governments, which therefore were used to define the context considered in this research. The main contributions to this research are, from a practical perspective, the artefacts designed for its suitability in a context that has been disregarded in previous research, and from a theoretical perspective the contextual knowledge used to design the proposed method. As consequence of this study it was observed the relevance of the context for the harnessing of IT management frameworks which are generally assumed as generic solutions for any context, but in practice are challenged for it. / QC 20111212. Sponsored by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)