Module 12: Critical Thinking Assignment
Aligning IT Strategies to Business Strategies (15 Marks)
Delta Corporation has been very impressed with the progress it has made with its new product line and the new marketing approach that you recommended and instigated. As a result, it is now considering expanding this approach for its other product lines, providing them with the ability to market and sell all of its products online. However, it has not considered the implications for its IT department in developing this type of plan. As the Social Media Marketing Consultant, you are familiar with integrating business and IT strategic planning. They have called upon you to provide advice. You need to:
Explain what the company needs to consider if it is going to move to a more on-line approach for its sales and marketing activities. In particular, describe the consequences for its IT department and why they need to be involved in the planning phase.
Given the likely increase in costs associated with this move, you need to outline the potential benefits and possible pitfalls of outsourcing the IT maintenance and development.
Outline some strategic technology trends that the company may wish to monitor and consider for the future.
Finally, research a company in Saudi Arabia and discuss whether they were able to align their overall strategy and their IT strategy. If they were successful discuss how they managed this alignment and what benefits they gained from doing so. If they were not so successful, explain how and why you felt that occurred.
Class
Our focus this week will be building on and understanding the need for change. We also look at assessing
if your organization is ready for change.
Your Critical Thinking Essay for Module 5 has the following scenario:
Each organization has its own background perceptions, ethics, values, history, and ambitions. Therefore,
a “one size fits all” change management process may not work in every organization. We must assess
and adapt our process to fit the backgrounds and philosophies of each organization.
Given this understanding, we need to research and assess when and if, an organization is ready for
change and then adopt a process to best facilitate the change process. Choose a Middle Eastern
organization at which you are currently working or one in which you are familiar. (If neither is possible,
conduct an internet search to identify a Middle Eastern organization that has gone through a
transformation process within the last three years.) Then address the following:
SEU Cover Page
Introduction (to the paper)
Company Overview (heading): Provide a brief summary of the organization (its history, culture, industry,
product, and services).
The Change that is Needed (heading): Explain why a change was needed. What is the gap between the
present state and the desired future state?
How Strong is the Need (heading): Explain how strong is the need for change?
Source of Need (heading): Explain the source of this need? Is it external to the organization?
Impact on Organization (heading): If the change does not occur, what will be the impact on the
organization in the next few years?
Change Process (heading): Briefly explain if the change process was a success or failure.
Evaluate Readiness for Change (heading): Based on what you have learned thus far in the course,
evaluate the company’s readiness for change. Were they ready? Why or why not? Would you have done
anything differently?
Conclusion: Wrap up your paper
References
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Support your submission with course material concepts, principles, and theories from the
textbook and at least three scholarly, peer-reviewed journal articles.
No more than 5 pages of content, proper APA style (including APA headings)
REMEMBER: I will be grading you on how well you ANALYZE the company you have chosen for
each of the questions. Writing general comments will not garner full points.
Please do not use past assignments, as this assignment is new, and past work will not work here.
The CT is due Tuesday, October 3rd.
Submissions will be accepted through October 10th with a 10% grade deduction.
Have a productive week!
Dr. Cindy
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Ministry of Education
Saudi Electronic
University
‫المملكة العربية السعودية‬
‫وزارة التعليم‬
‫الجامعة السعودية‬
‫اإللكترونية‬
College of Administrative and Financial Sciences
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