MIS Research Center Seminar Series
8:30 AM - 11:15 AM
1st Floor Auditorium, Carlson School of Management

Abstract

Over the last two decades, studies examining the issues of most concern to CIOs have consistently placed ‘business alignment' at or near the top. That business alignment is critically important is certainly not surprising given that performance enhancements ultimately derived from IT investments as well as IT-enabled business initiatives are contingent on these investments/initiatives being aligned with business priorities/strategies. What is very surprising is that after two decades business alignment remains a concern. Stated more directly, why isn't a state of business alignment a reality for most information systems organizations?

This presentation will begin by synthesizing what we know about business alignment and about the tactics that have been shown to successful in enabling information system organizations to achieve a state of business alignment. Then, alternative explanations will be offered as to why achieving and, perhaps more important, sustaining a state business alignment seems to elude most information systems organizations. The presentation will conclude with recommendations for senior information systems organizations.

Biography

Robert W. Zmud is Professor and Michael F. Price Chair in MIS in the Price College of Business at the University of Oklahoma . He has been elected a fellow of both the Association of Information Systems and the Decision Science Institute.

While his research portfolio might seem at first glance to be rather eclectic, the vast majority of Bob's refereed articles have addressed phenomena associated with the following question, “What must an enterprise do right in order to introduce appropriate information technology so as to fully leverage the functionality of this technology in creating business value?” His research examining this question has been published in over 85 refereed articles in such journals as (among others) MIS Quarterly , Information Systems Research , Management Science , Organization Science , Academy of Management Review , and Academy of Management Journal .

Bob has been active in promoting and developing information systems scholarship through the leadership roles he has served with scholarly journals in the information systems field. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of MIS Quarterly from 1995 to 1998, as a founding Senior Editor of Organization Science , and is currently a Senior Editor with Information Systems Research and MISQ Executive . In addition, he currently serves or has previously served on the editorial boards of the following journals (alphabetical order): Academy of Management Review , Communications of the ACM , Decision Sciences , Information & Organization , Journal of AIS , Journal of Engineering and Technology Management , Management Science , MISQ Executive , and Systems, Objectives, Solutions.

Bob has also played leadership roles in professional societies and conferences associated with the information system discipline. He has served in officer roles with the OCIS Division of the Academy of Management , the TIMS College on Information Systems, and the Society of Information Management, International. In addition, through his work with SIM, International as Research Director of the Advanced Practices Council and as Chair of the SIM Paper Competition, Bob has played an instrumental role in furthering practice-based research in information systems. Finally, Bob has also served in leadership roles in numerous information systems conferences, including serving as General Chair for ICIS 1993 and Program Chair for ICIS 1986.

In addition to serving on the faculties of Clarkson University, Auburn University, Georgia State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Florida State University, and University of Oklahoma, Bob has served as a Shaw Professor at Nanyang Technological University (1997), a Visiting Scholar at City University of Hong Kong (2001), and a Shaw Professor at the National University of Singapore (2002). He received his Bachelors of Aerospace Engineering Degree from the University of Virginia (1968), his MS degree in Management from MIT (1970), and his PhD in Business Administration degree from the University of Arizona (1974).