Which is the best approach to address these concerns about decision-making authority?
An organization’s board of directors has become aware that major IT initiatives were recently completed that did not address significant organizational risks. This raised concerns about organizational decision-making. The CIO has been asked to review who makes key IT decisions, and how these decisions are being made. Which is the best approach to address these concerns about decision-making authority?
OPTIONS
- Establish a decision-making framework that assigns all non-operational decisions to the executive level, ensuring full transparency for decision-making
- Conduct an assessment of staff’s decision-making skills, then use the results to identify key skills gaps and begin a training program to improve organizational decision-making
- Establish a risk-based approach to define the key roles and stakeholder groups involved in various types of initiatives, which would help to delegate decision-making to the right levels
- Establish open lines of communication between IT decision-makers and executives about decisions being made, which would help each level understand who is making what decisions
ANSWER
Establish a risk-based approach to define the key roles and stakeholder groups involved in various types of initiatives, which would help to delegate decision-making to the right levels
EXPLANATION
When everyone has a defined role and knows their scope of control, they can make decisions within that scope and drive productive action. If their scope of control is too small, decisions will be forced upwards, slowing work and overloading decision-makers. One way to assess the assignment of decision-making authority is to weigh the risk.
