Considering an offer to manage an IT department, страница 3

The senior management’s point of view on the IT department is also an important area. The question is: does senior management view IT as a tool to move the organization forward, or simply as a necessity?

The financial question is also worth discussion: is there a feeling that IT "costs too much" and that the organization would benefit from a reduction in IT expense? If senior management sees the cost of IT as too high, ask to do a review of those expenses to determine the validity of the claim.

And of course: does senior management recognize what improvements a new IT manager is expected to make, and will they support what needs to be done to make the required changes?

Posing such questions may create a negative reaction on the part of the person offering the job. But isn’t it important for you to avoid problems in the future?

One of the most helpful thoughts of John Murray is that when a prospective employer fails to see the value in a candid discussion about what has gone wrong, it should provide clues about why the position is open.

One of the parts of the article devoted to the assessing support. The willingness of the company for changes is one of the most important indicators as long as bringing in a new IT manager follows that some level of change within the department is going to be required. Simply bringing in a new manager and leaving everything else as it was sets the new manager up for failure. This thought should be written in a fire letters in the office of any businessman! But not everyone of them remember it.  Therefore, one of the first issues you should consider has to do with the level of management awareness of the requirement to make changes, and the level of willingness to support the needed changes. Guessing at the answer to that question can be difficult and can present serious future problems. The best approach is to come right out and ask about management's willingness to provide adequate levels of support for IT.

All suggestions may be interpreted in most different ways, so it’s better to ask the prospective employer about specific fiscal levels of increased support. The answer will provide some insight into how much the employer really understands about the current condition of the IT department, and it provides an assessment of the employer's willingness to provide adequate funding to bring the department up to speed.

You can bailey suggest some specific figure, which  may be require to make the needed progress, perhaps an increase in the IT budget of 20 or 25% annually for the next three years. The response can greatly increase you opportunities to understand the senior management’s position. Doing IT right can be expensive, especially when an organization has allowed itself to fall behind the technology curve. If the required commitment to building a strong IT function is not going to be forthcoming, it's better that you find that out as soon as possible.

There are to answers on the financial question. One of them, such as: "A consultant helped us explore the issue and we understand we may have to triple the IT budget over the next three years to get where we want to go. If that is the case, we are fully prepared to make that investment," is favorable, course it opens the managers point of view on this problem. Another one, like: “You know, we have not given too much thought to that, we just feel we are falling behind on technology,” should make the caution flags come up.

In the conclusion Mr. Murray says that even if you do everything right, there are never any assurances that a new job will work out well, but you can raise the probability of success by laying the proper groundwork. If both parties can ask and answer questions candidly and find they share the same view of the problems, getting together should be mutually beneficial.

Conclusion

You can do everything to find out if this position will suit you in all possible ways or just think a minute and accept it. Nothing can guarantee you a positive outcome. But as better you’ll prepared for difficulties, which are waiting for any manager as easier will be your adaptation in you new role.

But it’s will really make your work easily if you will think it all over before making any step. Of course any manager position is a great responsibility, but it also gives a lot of advantages, and any position which satisfy the conditions of high compensation, convenient schedule of work and a comfortable atmosphere regards huge mental and material expenditures. The is just no easy way.

Of course the manager of the IT department has many specified “rakes”, which will provide you along the way if you’ll decide to specialize in this area. But all difficulties results the increase of our strength, knowledge and experience, and the most hard problems puts the manager on the highest level of the self-development.

Although it can be a difficult process, it is better to avoid a management situation that will not work than to enter into something likely to end badly. Making a mistake in accepting an offer to manage an IT installation is not a pleasant experience. Devoting time and effort to attempting to avoid a bad outcome represents a sound approach to the issue.

Vocabulary

inordinate - беспорядочный

obscure - неясный

anxiety - беспокойство

prior - предшествующее

withdrawn - изъятие

pertinent - подходящее

candor - искренность

involved - вовлеченная

insight - понимание

prospective - предполагаемое

comprehensive - всестороннее

lack - нехватка

reduction - сокращение

validity - законность

candid - искренняя

clues - ключи

assessing - оценка

adequate - адекватная

fiscal - финансовая

funding - финансирование

curve - кривая

forthcoming - предстоящая

favorable - благоприятная

groundwork - основа

mutually - взаимно

devoting - посвящение