Transformation of the IT Function at British Petroleum

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org. This content downloaded from 130.15.241.167 on Fri AbstractIn 1989, the IT function of the exploration and production division of British Petroleum Company set out to transform itself in response to a severe economic environment and poor internal perceptions of IT performance. This case study traces and analyzes 'Robert Zmud was the accepting senior editor for this paper. the changes made over six years. The authors derive a model of the transformed IT organization comprising seven components that they suggest can guide IT departments in general as they seek to reform themselves in the late 1990s.This model is seen to fit well with recent thinking on general management in that the seven components of change can be reclassified into the Bartlett and Ghoshal (1994) framework of purpose, process, and people. Some suggestions are made on how to apply the model in other organizations.

How IT Management Profile and IT Business Value Correlate - Exploring Cross-Domain Alignment

“…Systems Provider …aims to fulfil the needs of the business; limited presence in business (reactive); technical skills [20,[29][30][31][32] Lowering the firm's operating costs by reducing the cost of IT operations and selecting IT projects that minimize costs. Architecture Builder …aims to build and manage an IT infrastructure that supports business processes and reduces architectural complexity; limited presence in business; technical skills and industry knowledge [20,29,31,33] Reducing architectural complexity in order to increase business agility.…”

“…Architecture Builder …aims to build and manage an IT infrastructure that supports business processes and reduces architectural complexity; limited presence in business; technical skills and industry knowledge [20,29,31,33] Reducing architectural complexity in order to increase business agility.…”

“…the role which IT played within the company and the impact on organizational performance [20]. Examining previous IT management approaches in order to pave the way to "a new theory of the contribution of the IT function in organizations", Guillemette and Pare [1] proposed a typology of ideal management profiles.…”

IT Governance Practices in Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises: Recommendations from an Empirical Study

“…Along with other factors (e.g., technology and environment), organisational size (Starbuck 1965) and structural differentiation (Blau and Schoenherr 1971) induce considerable variation in organisational structures which in turn influence the nature of instituted decision structures (Ein-Dor and Segev 1982), including IT governance structures (Cross et al 1997). In particular, SMEs tend to be characterized by centralized decision structures (Wilensky 1967), which engender centralized IT governance structures (Brown 1997;Sambamurthy and Zmud 1999).…”

Software process improvement as emergent change: A structurational analysis

“…Organisations sanction this learning by developing programmes and incentives to encourage this to happen. An example of this can be seen at BP Exploration, who consider ongoing education to he a high priority, as highly trained and motivated staff are key to their future success (Cross et al, 1997). Professional development, however, is not always well served by external training courses.…”