Deck 4: Managing Perceptions of IT

Question 1

IT managers have struggled to deal with negative perceptions of IT's effectiveness and value for many years.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The root of all of MaxTrade's IT problems was lack of money.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

IT's failure to consistently address the lower-level needs of the organization would not be the source of many of the ongoing negative perceptions of IT.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Business and IT need strong interpersonal interactions before they can truly work together to make decisions for the organization.

Question 5

Issues with the IT infrastructure were keeping ModMeter from Expanding into meter assembly with plants in Asia and Eastern Europe.

Question 6

It is important for IT managers to understand and manage business's perceptions of IT as a whole and how IT as a whole perceives and presents itself to the business.

Question 7

A reputation is a thought, belief, or opinion held by many people and based on appearances.

Question 8

Long-term planning was a critical component of MaxTrade's management philosophy.

Question 9

Considering Maslow's hierarchy needs, only after lower-level needs are met can an individual concentrate on needs at the next highest level.

Question 10

The image of IT and its reputation in the organization arise from a set of shared perceptions among all stakeholder groups that exist only at the individual level.

Question 11

What different business leaders want from IT will affect their perceptions and result in different perspectives of how well IT achieves its goals.

Question 12

A big strategic initiative for ModMeter was to put systems in place to support direct-to-customer sales allowing "green" electric meters to be sold to individual users.

Question 13

There are a number of factors that may affect perceptions in the business-IT relationship.

Question 14

Before real value can be achieved, IT and the business must have mutual respect for each other's skills and abilities and be willing to defer to each other's area of expertise.

Question 15

MaxTrade had a robust IT plan that included a concise and far reaching Backup and recovery plan.

Question 16

Perceptions of the value IT adds to the business will become increasingly positive as IT successfully addresses lower-level business needs.

Question 17

The phenomenon that improvements in the business-IT relationship at the individual level are not necessarily reflected in overall perceptions of IT was first noted only two or three years ago.

Question 18

Trust between IT and business is essential because of the growing need for business-IT collaboration and not necessarily due to the increasing ambiguity, uncertainty, and complexity of IT work.

Question 19

Many business leaders do not recognize the growing importance of IT as a fundamental driver of business and have concerns about IT's cost effectiveness and the value it adds.

Question 20

One of the biggest frustrations of IT units is that expectations are constantly shifting and overall impressions of IT tend to remain negative.

Question 21

Taking ModMeters global was a reasonable next step for the company because its products, were highly specialized and in great demand.

Question 22

Better management of perceptions has a number of positive
Benefits for both IT and the organization such as:

A) increased credibility and closer alignment.
B) increased credibility and improved teamwork.
C) closer alignment and improved teamwork..
D) increased credibility, closer alignment and improved team work.
E) increased profitability, increased credibility, and closer alignment.

Question 23

There is no consistent definition about what a reputation is and how it should be measured.

Question 24

Many IT leaders believe that managing ________ of IT is important.

A) reputations
B) perceptions
C) attitudes
D) OCBs

Question 25

The senior management at MaxTrade clearly felt as though the company's IT systems were solid and could not understand why CEO Bruce Robinson wanted to turn things around.

Question 26

The Technical Underwriting Financial System (TUFS) was the largest single investment in IT ever made by Northern Insurance.

Question 27

Expectations and perceptions drive stakeholders' behavior and influence the quality of the business-IT partnership.

Question 28

The IT group at MaxTrade had good morale, and low turnover, which puzzled Richard Fanning as to why there were problems with IT.

Question 29

________ tend(s) to be higher when staff perceive they are treated fairly and with dignity and respect, and lower when management places unrealistic and arbitrary demands on them and there is a lack of resources.

A) Reputations
B) Perceptions
C) Attitudes
D) OCBs

Question 30

ModMeters never seemed to have the resources to invest in reengineering its existing systems.

Question 31

The TUF system's problems certainly accounted for some of the extra costs, despite the fact that the underwriters implemented all of the process changes required.

Question 32

Poor perceptions of how well IT delivers value may result in under use of technology by the business but rarely results in tentative IT investments.

Question 33

Even though ModMeters was making a reasonable profit, the company did not spend a lot of resources on IT infrastructure.

Question 34

The TUFS system was supposed to have brought new opportunities for top-line growth.

Question 35

________ become increasingly important as individuals' jobs grow less clear, span organizational boundaries, and contain ambiguities.

A) Reputations
B) Perceptions
C) Attitudes
D) OCBs

Question 36

Behaviors that promote effective organizational functioning that are discretionary and not recognized by the formal reward system are called:

A) reputations
B) perceptions
C) attitudes
D) OCBs

Question 37

Six months after implementation, the TUFS system was eating up the vast majority of Northern Insurance's IT budget and resources to fix underwriting errors created by the system.

Question 38

According to the business case, TUFS was supposed to pay for itself over its first two years of operations from savings realized from the underwriting process.

Question 39

Understanding, shaping, and fulfilling the expectations of stakeholders is central to successful strategy execution.

Question 40

A perception includes not only facts and knowledge, but also emotions toward an organization.

Question 41

ModMeters' approach to budgeting:

A) did not allow the company to develop new strategies.
B) did not allow the company to maintain and expend the IT infrastructure.
C) did not allow the ability to hire sufficient staff.
D) Both A and C
E) All the above

Question 42

________ can simply be wrong, and such misperceptions can result in improper judgments and poor decisions.

A) Reputations
B) Perceptions
C) Attitudes
D) OCBs

Question 43

The following are some common consequences of people acting on their perceptions of IT EXCEPT:

A) Poor decisions
B) Process inefficiencies
C) Systems inefficiencies
D) Flexibility
E) Missed opportunities

Question 44

Positive perceptions of IT must be built by addressing
Four layers of business need:

A) competence, credibility, relationships, and trust.
B) competence, profit, relationships, and trust.
C) competence, profit, interest, and trust.
D) competence, interest, relationships, and profit.

Question 45

ModMeters was the largest producer of metering components in the world
With a full range of:

A) mechanical and digital products.
B) mechanical and analog products.
C) digital and analog products.
D) digital and virtual products.
E) All the above

Question 46

Which of the Maslow's hierarchy needs listed is at the highest level?

A) Physiological needs
B) Physical needs
C) Need for Self-Actualization
D) Need for Esteem
E) Need for belonging

Question 47

To which layer of the Maslow's hierarchy does the condition of mutual respect and confidence. belong?

A) Physiological needs
B) Physical needs
C) Need for Self-Actualization
D) Need for Esteem
E) Need for belonging

Question 48

The following are some common perceptions of the IT function EXCEPT:

A) IT costs too much.
B) IT takes too long to deliver.
C) IT fails to deliver competitive differentiation.
D) IT is aligned with business strategy.
E) IT doesn't add value.

Question 49

Who was the CIO of ModMeters?

A) Brian Smith
B) Martin Drysdale
C) Richard Fanning
D) John Johnson

Question 50

Positive attitudes toward IT are related to:

A) the rising bar of expectations.
B) more progressive use of technology.
C) the needs and interests of business stakeholders.
D) the sub-function of IT with which the user deals.

Question 51

IT projects are considerably more complex than those of the past in that they involve many more elements, such as:

A) risk management and adherence to numerous laws, regulations, and standards.
B) integration across multiple platforms and business units.
C) customer centric services, information and content management.
D) All of the above
E) Both B and C

Question 52

The following are some common perceptions of the IT function EXCEPT:

A) IT is not aligned with business strategy.
B) IT is a change agent.
C) IT doesn't do the right things.
D) IT doesn't do things right.
E) IT is inflexible.

Question 53

Trust between business and IT is built upon agreement on four elements:

A) the role of IT, that IT is doing things, that IT is doing the right things, and that IT is positioning the organization well for the future.
B) a need for more communication, a need for mutual understanding, common interests, and agreed upon expectations.
C) physiological needs, IT's need for Self-Actualization Need, IT's need for Esteem, and IT's need for belonging.
D) risk management, customer centric services, information and content management.

Question 54

Which of the following resources were the tightest at ModMeters?

A) Hardware, software, and money.
B) People, hardware, and money.
C) Time, money, software and hardware.
D) People, time and money.
E) All the above

Question 55

The ModMeters IT infrastructure included everything listed below EXCEPT:

A) accounting systems.
B) supply-chain management systems.
C) customer web sites.
D) All the above

Question 56

Which of the Maslow's hierarchy needs listed take priority over all others?

A) Physiological needs
B) Physical needs
C) Need for Safety
D) Need for Esteem
E) Need for belonging

Question 57

Managing perceptions actually consists of three steps:

A) managing risk management, understanding customer centric services, and addressing business's need for information and content management.
B) understanding IT's need for Self-Actualization Need, addressing IT's need for Esteem, and understanding IT's need for belonging.
C) understanding current perceptions, addressing perceptual problems, and monitoring perceptions on an ongoing basis.
D) understanding the need for more communication, addressing the common need for mutual understanding, and managing common interests and agreed upon expectations.

Question 58

The need for relationship is described as:

A) a need for more communication.
B) ensuring that goals are fully understood and acted upon.
C) a need for mutual understanding, interests, and expectations.
D) Both A and B
E) All of the above

Question 59

The following are motivational needs represented by Maslow's hierarchy EXCEPT:

A) Physiological needs
B) Physical needs
C) Need for Safety
D) Need for Esteem
E) Need for belonging

Question 60

Which of the following, if any, have helped to address many of the challenges IT has faced in the organization?

A) Service-level agreements and cost transparency
B) Benchmarking and project management
C) Improved tools and technologies
D) All of the above
E) None of the above

Question 61

The root of all of MaxTrade's IT problems was:

A) lack of leadership.
B) lack of IT funding.
C) lack of skilled labor.
D) None of the above.

Question 62

Can perceptions ever be wrong? Why or why not?

Question 63

Which of the following questions was posed by executive committee about whether or not Northern Insurance should put more money into the TUFs system?

A) What went wrong with the TUFS project and what can be done to prevent development problems in the future?
B) What needs to be done to realize the benefits that were projected for TUFS?
C) How can benefits be measured in future development projects?
D) How can the organization apportion the IT budget between TUFS and other IT projects?
E) All the above

Question 64

List and describe the factors that may affect perceptions in the business-IT relationship

Question 65

Describe the "principle of managing expectations" and the effect on IT perception in companies.

Question 66

What were some of the "challenges" encountered by Northern Insurance's CIO while developing the specifications for the TUFS system?

Question 67

Describe Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Does an organization's need for IT parallel Maslow's hierarchy? Why or why not?

Question 68

The biggest weakness in the MaxTrade IT architecture was:

A) application development.
B) backup and recovery planning.
C) hardware management.
D) Both A and C
E) All the above

Question 69

The main purpose of the TUFs project was:

A) to allow underwriters to automate underwriting activities.
B) to allow staff to receive customer information via the internet.
C) allow Northern Insurance to enter other strategic business markets.
D) All the above

Question 70

TUFS was going to transform Northern Insurance by:

A) streamlining the underwriting process.
B) providing strategic e-business capabilities.
C) overhauling internal HR systems.
D) creating a new customer service system.
E) Both A and B

Question 71

Northern Insurance spent almost $________ million on the implementation of the TUFS system.

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4
E) 5

Question 72

List and describe the (3) steps IT can take to manage perceptions.

Question 73

Richard's review of the IT infrastructure at MaxTrade concluded:

A) the company was not going to be able to use IT effectively in an increasingly competitive marketplace.
B) the company was not going to be able to keep up with simple business requests unless a
Number of key changes were made.
C) the approach to IT work need to change and how decisions were made about IT investments
D) Both A and C
E) All the above

Question 74

List and describe the three-level pyramid for addressing the organization's
IT needs that is based on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

Question 75

What MaxTrade needed was ________ to the users of what IT provided.

A) a culture of customer service
B) a service level agreement
C) a notice of outsourcing
D) All the above

Question 76

What was the founding principle behind MaxTrade's competitive strategy? How did the founding principle contrast to the status of MaxTrade's IT infrastructure?

Question 77

What is the difference between perception and reputation? How can organizational perception affect IT reputation?

Question 78

Richard's first month as temporary CIO at MaxTrade began with:

A) a thorough assessment of the current technology situation at the company.
B) meeting with vendors and conducting a review of outsourcing contracts.
C) getting to know both the business and the people involved.
D) Both A and C
E) All the above

Question 79

Which components of the TUF systems did not deliver immediate benefits?

A) The e-business capabilities.
B) The customer service capabilities.
C) The HR capabilities.
D) The executive dashboard capabilities.

Question 80

How is not managing perceptions dangerous to IT managers? List and describe (3) reasons why not managing perceptions is dangerous to IT.