INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Implementation of Information Technology

Implementation of Information Technology

Introduction

Organizational leaders believe the change in IT is the first time that organizations have encountered a changing technology that took less time to transition into the world's global economy. The change surprised leadership as incongruous, but also proved that the world is changing. During the March 13, 2008 House Armed Services Subcommittee hearing on terrorism, stated that the “U.S. Army's Science and Technology (S&T) investment strategy was shaped to pursue technologies that would create unmatched and unknown capabilities for future land combat forces. Secondly, the capacity of an organization is critical to the capability of private organizations to implement technology. When looking at organizational capacity, there are three main investments that are the cornerstone of success in information technology implementations, in the private sector: infrastructure, human capital, and, planning. Throwing more money or resources at an information technology project will not necessarily achieve success if there are no plans. Providing more training for staff will not help an information technology project if there are no infrastructure investments. These three investments are central with each playing an equal role. The challenge for civilian organization is that these three investments are often in direct conflict with the organization's mission. Therefore, all issues related to implementation of Information Technology in civilian and military organizations will be discussed in detail.

Main Body

One of the major aspects in Information Technology that is utilized by both civilian and military organizations is Knowledge management. It attracts organization leaders' attention, not that knowledge management was a new field of study, but that the power of gaining a competitive edge in business was within how well organizations manage their explicit and tacit knowledge. Many of the world's most successful organizational leaders were leaders who were best at managing knowledge in their organizations. Most of the researchers studied 33 small and medium-sized organizations and identified four types of knowledge management approaches. According to the researcher known as Alstete, the four types were unengaged companies, comprehensive knowledge management practice organizations, knowledge ownership firms, and learning and co-producing companies. Alstete indicated that small and mid-sized organizations were dissimilar in understanding and applying knowledge management (Granstrand, 1990, 42).

The volume of knowledge organizational members acquired might prevent the condensation and use of information appropriately. Some of the researchers posited that knowledge is information that facilitates action. Leaders' management of knowledge within the organization fostered effective decision-making. Some of them also observed that managers and workers of an organization relied on organizational leaders for critical decision-making based on inputs from infinite domains. The availability of knowledge about the inputs and how the inputs can affect organizations are crucial to the operation of organizations. Many reported that knowledge among organizational members was doubling at a rate of every 18 months, which made it harder for organizational members to capture, retain, and share new knowledge. To capture, retain, and share knowledge effectively, organizational leaders developed knowledge management applications that leveraged different mechanisms by deploying technologies that facilitated the knowledge ...