Literature Review on Research Proposal

Literature Review

IT Governance defines the decisions and responsibilities that ensures expected behaviours in the utilization of information technology within organizations (Khouja et al, 2018). Through ITG organizations enable information technology infrastructure to understand the goals, objectives, and strategies and support for its achievement. ITG ensures that the processes implemented within the organizations direct towards the improvement in the performances (Dawson et al, 2016). IT Governance is expected to take into consideration all the stakeholders and ensure that the implemented processes lead to the desired results along with the growth of the organization in the longer run. ITG has organization wide influence and its success is impacted directly or indirectly by various organizational aspects such as processes, structures, and relationships (Altemimi and Zakaria, 2015). Here, structure within the organization is formed by the combination of various business units and the responsibilities they execute. Process on the other hand are various procedures undertaken in order to fulfil strategy and policies. And the third aspect that is relationship is the relation between structure and process that ensures greater business value. 

Studies have shown that the ITG can be a great enabler in pushing the organizations towards being more competitive and successful in the market (Janahi et al, 2015; Khouja et al, 2018). It helps align the information technology of the organization along with its goals and strategies. There is no doubt that the consideration of ITG within the organization requires instant cost investment. However, with time the organization can also experience cost reductions primarily due to lesser dependence on human resources, faster communication, and others (Huygh et al, 2018). The performance of the overall organization increases as well along with its ability to respond faster to the changes in the market. The customers are able to get faster response to their demands, which results in increase their satisfaction. Organizational practices also become more sustainable in the longer run and the increase the revenue for every dollar invested is witnessed (Boonstra et al, 2017). ITG ensures that strategic organizational goals are converted into information technology projects that increases efficiency throughout the organization. Culture of an organization is an important aspect that determines whether an organization will succeed or fail in the changing environment. ITG ensures that the information technology is embedded in the culture of the organization. 

IT Governance ensures that the organization achieves the behaviour it desires along with the outcomes. ITG can be effectively used within the organizations to create value through investments in information technology infrastructure (ChePa et al, 2015). It not only ensures focus of the organization towards costs and appropriate communications, it also ensures increased accountability for investments in IT. There are several benefits that can be counted when ITG is implemented such as effective execution and enforcement of rules and regulations, increased accountability among the employees, balancing of organizational resources, increased ability to handle short and long term risks, objectivity in decision making, and increased alignment and responsiveness to changing external and internal environmental situation (Aasi et al, 2016). However, existence of ITG in isolation is unthinkable, and thus it has to be considered as the core of strategic decision making within the organizations by the top management. 

Barriers to IT Governance

An organization is not a single isolated system. The functioning of an organization is intertwined with various internal and external factors. Some of them are natural, which occurs due to the interaction of various environmental elements, whereas some are artificial. As for instance, the unwillingness to change has been identified as a major challenge when it comes to the adoption of ITG (Vejseli, S. and Rossmann, 2017). The definition of resistance to change can be the negative reaction to the proposed changes, which can be covert or overt. Studies have found that the resistance to changes can be often found in larger organizations where one process or work method has held its ground quite strongly and people are unwilling to adopt something else (Bergeron et al, 2015). It often happens due to various reasons such as fear of job loss or need to learn something new. People also want to avoid the accountability and are adapt in their existing comfortable environment. On the other hand, ITG requires that the employees learn the new way of doing things.  

Complexity is another challenge that is attributed to ITG. Understanding of ITG also determines whether the people will accept its implementation. The role of ITG is multifaceted instead of linear, and thus it creates confusion as well (Rahimi et al, 2016). The complexity tend to create a situation where the interested parties such as consultants and assessors may prepare their own set of assumptions and preparation related to ITG standard. It has been found that politics also plays a crucial role in preventing proper ITG. People within the organization play politics in order to maximize their own self-interest. With the implementation of ITG within the organization, one can witness shift in the power and decision rights, which may also push individuals to prevent its implementation (Vugec et al, 2017). However, it has been found that the utilization of resources that are external to the organization and who are uninfluenced by internal politics can resolve the situation. Moreover, if the employees lack proper knowledge and skills then they may also reject it because they would not want to have their feet into something that they don’t understand (Wiedemann, 2018). Often times middle management also do not extend the much needed help. Researches have shown that the support of top management’s role is vital for ITG, but it has also been found that the role of middle management is important as well. The importance increases at the time of implementation of ITG as they are strategically placed between the frontline staffs and the top management (Huygh and De Haes, 2019). However, rejection from middle managers have been found. Here, there is a need to understand the underlying perception that pushes them to reject change despite being important within the organizational structure. This aspect has not been studied widely among the researchers. Therefore, the current study has been undertaken to study this gap. 

Another concern is regarding the movement of managers from one organization to another. It often happens that an organizational initiative falls flat before achieving its goal because a key employee leaves the organization for lucrative external officer. This situation of job hopping leads to the hiring of a new individual who is completely unaware of the internal surrounding and organizational goals (Sesay and Ramirez, 2016). Along with this, the distance between the two parties also determine the speed with which the ITG will come into effect. If the actors involved in the implementation of ITG are geographically far off, then there is a higher chance that the communication between them will not be as frequent and it may lead to constant disruptions, which is not a favourable condition. It can be said that the despite the best of the efforts of the organization there are several internal barriers that create challenging situation that prevents ITG implementation (Yaokumah et al, 2015). Also, when there is lack of appropriate resources that are needed for ITG, then even willing individuals cannot implement it successfully. The need for the resources is mostly dependent on the size of the organization, which increases with the increase in the size. Moreover, with the increased organization size there is also increase in the individuals who make decisions. Thus the increase in complexity in communication also prevents progress. Failure of proper communication is can be considered as vital player in failure of any change within the organization (Putri and Surendro, 2015). Communication is referred to as the sending a message and receiving the same message as it was intended by the sender. However, it often happens that due to various underlying prejudices, orientation, pressure, technical and non-technical challenges, and inability to articulate properly leads to poor communication between individuals. A person may not understand the shared information as it was intended. The dissertation of communication is quite common in larger organizations (Bianchi et al, 2017). And when it comes to passing information related to new changes such as ITG, then there exists possibility of misunderstanding about the intention of the top management, which may lead to failure. Employees may not understand the direction in which the intention of the top management and end up revolting to the change.

Factors to consider for IT Governance

Culture of an organization of an organization often determine whether the implementation of ITG will be smooth or there exists possibility of resistance. If the individuals are open to changes and innovation, then they are likely to adopt the changes. On the other hand, if the culture is closed and the people have differing views towards innovations then resistance can be expected (Al Qassimi and Rusu, 2015). Another is the structure of existing information technology within the organization determine if the implementation will be convenient or major overhaul is needed. There are studies that have considered the ITG from the perspective of current or proposed structures. However, it is also possible that a move towards ITG will require the organizations to break from the older patterns of doing their business and adopt new organizational structure (Lunardi et al, 2017). Positions that may be relevant within the organization before ITG may become obsolete post-implementation. The size of the organization also impacts the way things are being done. In smaller organizations, there exists lack of rigid structures and strongly defined work premise. Employees can be often found meddling with and assuming various job roles throughout their work life at smaller organization (Selig, 2018). On the other hand, larger organizations are comparatively more structured, rigid, and every individual has their own well-defined role to play. Smaller organizations often lack standard practices. Here, it can be said that the larger organization has more favourable environment for successful ITG than the smaller ones. 

Another aspect is the industry in which the companies are operating which determines whether they will adopt ITG. If others are not chasing ITG then it is unlikely that an organization will try to be the pioneer (Tonelli et al, 2017). ITG may mean something different in various industries and the goals for ITG may vary as well, which can be witnessed by observing the varying regulations among industries. Some industries are regulated strongly on their management of information technology such as healthcare, whereas as others are loosely regulated such as manufacturers of daily product items. Also, difference in the nationality, local laws and regulations, language, and presence of IT infrastructure in the country also determine the implementation expectations of ITG (Asgarkhani et al, 2017). Further, information technology has matured over the years to some extent. However, it still needs specialized resources in order for it to be a success and accessibility to these resources determine how successful an organization can be in this field (Gregory et al, 2018). Aspects such as strategy of the organization, ethics, and trust also influence the ITG implementation. If the organization is ethically sound and employee trust whatever decisions are made, then there is higher possibility that the employees will readily accept the changes being made (Van Grembergen and De Haes, 2018). They are less likely to question the decisions that the top management wants to impose them. It is understandable that the management cannot expect everyone in the organization to understand the role of ITG at a similar level. However, when there exists ethics and trusts, then more willingness towards change can be expected. 

Summary

Overall, it can be said that the IT Governance can be play a significant role in growth and sustainability of the organization. However, the implementation of ITG within the organization can become a herculean task depending on the internal and external situation. The organization can face variety of barriers and it has to understand how various factors are in play when making ITG adoption. The studies have detailed on various barriers and factors related to ITG. However, a gap associated with the perception of managers regarding ITG seems existent in the current study. As stated earlier, middle managers are the key link between the top management and the front line employees. And the way they perceive the ITG may significantly impact their enthusiasm towards its adoption. Therefore, there is a strong need to understand how these individuals understand and perceive ITG and the success related to the ITG implementation in relation to their perception. The next chapter presents the research methodology adopted in order to conduct further study and fill the gap.