IT Management and Strategy The Public Sectors

Question: Describe about the IT Management and Strategy for The Public Sectors. Answer: Introduction: The turnover of the IT professionals has become a serious problem in the public sectors, and hence it has become absolutely imperative for the organizations working under the public sector, to reduce the turnover intentions of the IT professionals. It should be noted here, that in the high-technology driven business environment of today, it has become highly important to draft the necessary strategies meant for retaining the IT staffs. It is important to know the strategies that can help in improving the turnover intention of the IT staffs, so that they can work for the organization in a much dedicated and focused way. Employee Retention Strategies : IT Industry by Leena James and Matthew Lissy In the article stated above, the authors identify practical business strategies that can considerably solve the retention problems of the employees. According to James, it is highly important to help the employees feel a sense of belonging, while working in the organization. The management authority of the organizations working under the public sector, should periodically organize various interactive sessions and activity sessions, so that the employees can feel valued and develop good relation with the employees. The IT employees are often left to execute the tiring, monotonous and complex tasks, and hence they lose motivation working for the same organization. Hence, Mathhew points out that the manager should think of volunteering his professional assistance on a difficult project, that may or may not simplify the employees task, but will at least offer him the motivation and co-operation, he is likely to expect from his the officials and other employees. According to this article, although the fact is in most of the cases overlooked, it is important to note that there exists a strong relation of the employees. Hence, it is highly important for the organizations of the public sector to ensure that a positive relation exists between the IT staffs and the management authority. Reframing Retention Strategy: A focus on Progress by Brian Spittle According to Brian Spittle, as stated in this article, the public sector organizations are encountering serious challenges in retaining the valuable and talented employees, simply because of the poor organizational environment, employees are confronted with. The employees are unable to get motivated sufficiently, and the IT staffs are no exception in this. Spittle says that there is a striking absence of job satisfaction among the IT staffs working in the public sectors. A research report has claimed that around 70 % of the employees working in the IT field in any public sector organization, feel discontent with their present jobs. The major reasons attributed to this kind of employment discontent are huge work pressure, undesirable working condition, lack of incentives, and others. Keeping these factors into consideration, it is obvious that the IT workers are unable to feel motivated, as they feel underpaid and yet taxed overmuch with work. This is the reason, they keep on switchin g from one organization to the other. Hence, it would be a discreet idea to improve the salary scheme of the It experts, ad offer them the salary package as per the standard followed by the private industries. The public sector organizations, according to Spittle, are required to introduce motivational strategies, and new incentive schemes, so as to increase the employee engagement of the IT professionals. Professional commitment, organizational commitment, and the intention to leave for professional advancement: An empirical study on IT professionals by Vincent Cho and Xu Huang: Cho and Huang in the above article clearly points out that the public sector employees, especially the IT experts are overpaid at the bottom, while are highly underpaid at the top. As a result, the IT workers of the public sector organizations, in absence of sufficient reward and recognition policies, feel de-motivated with their present job status, and consider switching their organizations. Hence, the first and the foremost point to be noted, is that the organizations are required to revise the motivational strategy of the IT workers. Since, the IT workers play a crucially important role in protecting the data of the organization, it is highly important to offer competitive benefits package to the employees. The organization is required to introduce health insurance schemes and retirement savings plan as well as flexible working hours, so that the employees do not suffer from lack of enthusiasm while working in the organization. Are your IT professionals prepared for the challenges to come?",Computer Fraud Security by S. Mustacha: This article describes the challenges that an IT worker faces while serving an organization. The article claims that the IT workers are usually expected to perpetrate similar kind of works. The repetitive, tedious tasks done in a mechanical fashion by the IT professionals make them feel de-motivated. Hence, it is advisable that the organizations employ effective strategies that help in engaging the employees for a long period of time. Here, Mustacha claims that the organization should also provide short-term benefits, rather than only long-term benefits to the employees. Keeping this in consideration, the organization should introduce small, yet lucrative packages that can attract the attention of the employees, and can keep them successfully engaged. The organization usually offers attractive pension schemes and other long term incentives to the employees. However, such schemes fail to capture the immediate attention of the employees. Hence, the organization should arrange small per ks, such as free bagels on Friday, free pick and delivery systems for Mondays. Besides, it would be a discreet idea to ask the managers to hold and organize events, at periodical intervals, that can revive the energy and motivation of the IT professionals, and encourage them to perform their tasks more effectively in future. Causal Loop Diagrams Model of IT Professionals' Happiness : Through System Dynamics Analysis Approach by Y.H Chang: Unlike the other authors, Chang in this article talks about and emphasizes the importance of job embeddedness. According to the author, this is a situation, where the employees form a profound relation with the organization, so much that even if there are multiple factors encouraging his turnover, he would prefer to continue working in the same organization. Chang suggests that this situation can be developed by creating a favorable relation among the employees and the employer, he manager or the team leader. The employees who are able to enjoy favorable relation with the leaders, are less likely to turnover. Hence, the organization can introduce career development opportunities to the employees, so that they can enjoy the prospect of professional advancement, while working in the organization. Apart from arranging a variety of training programs, offering ample promotional opportunities to the employees, or creating communication plans can help in developing a desirable relation betw een the IT workers and the management authority of the organization. Retention of IT professionals: Examining the influence of empowerment, social exchange, and trust by Erurk and Vurgun: Job satisfaction plays a very important role in the retention policy of the organization. Eruk and Vurgum state here that although a huge number of employees introduce a variety of retention policies in the organization, very few organizations succeed in monitoring the policies and reviewing the consequence of the same. Hence, the reviewing and re-assessing methods meant for evaluating the effectiveness of the motivational policies of the organization is highly important. Hence, the organization is required to hire new HR professionals, who will be assigned to the duty of reviewing the effectiveness of the policies introduced for motivating the IT employees. While the existent HR manager can be entrusted with the duty of implementing the motivational and employee engagement policies, the new HR managers should be employed for reviewing the execution of the same. Conclusion: The role of the IT professionals is undergoing a rapid change, and consequently the employees working in the IT field play a dynamic role. The technical skills and expertise possessed by the IT professionals help in offering substantial business benefits to the organization. From being a technical solution provider, the IT experts in an organization assume the role of a complete transformation partner. Hence, effective strategies must be introduced to ensure maximum satisfaction of the IT workers, so that they do not consider he idea of switching the organization. Reference List: James, L. and Mathew, L. 2012, "Employee Retention Strategies: IT Industry",SCMS Journal of Indian Management,vol. 9, no. 3, pp. 79. Spittle, B. 2013, "Reframing Retention Strategy: A Focus on Progress",New Directions for Higher Education,vol. 2013, no. 161, pp. 27-37. Cho, V. and Huang, X. 2012, "Professional commitment, organizational commitment, and the intention to leave for professional advancement: An empirical study on IT professionals",Information Technology People,vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 31-54. Mustaca, S. 2014, "Are your IT professionals prepared for the challenges to come?",Computer Fraud Security,vol. 2014, no. 3, pp. 18. Chang, Y.H. 2016, "Causal Loop Diagrams Model of IT Professionals' Happiness : Through System Dynamics Analysis Approach",Journal of Internet Computing and Services,vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 161-172. Ertrk, A. and Vurgun, L. 2015, "Retention of IT professionals: Examining the influence of empowerment, social exchange, and trust",Journal of Business Research,vol. 68, no. 1, pp. 34-46.