Abstract:
Over the past 30 years the relationship between the IT organisation
and the rest of the business has been a troubled one which few
organisations have managing to satisfactorily resolve. This ‘gap’ has
been explained by the cultural differences existing between the two.
Yet despite the criticality of IT to the business little attempt has been
made to explore this further and much of the writings and research on
the subject are dispersed, progressing little beyond the centralisation
decentralisation debate and offer little by way of guidance. Much of the
literature is concerned with issues of control of resources rather than
managing the relationship. Some organisations have chosen to rid
themselves of the problem through outsourcing but recent debate has
raised the question of the long term consequences of short term
decisions which are based on an historical problem. Yet often, the
‘trouble’ has no foundation beyond a level of perceptions. This paper
attempts to understand and interpret the problems in the relationship,
to describe the gap, to understand the reasons why it exists, and to
offer some advice.
