Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms

Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms

by Frank Wander
Released February 2013
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781118436530

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Book description

Practical, proven guidance for transforming the culture of any IT department

As more and more jobs are outsourced, and the economy continues to struggle, people are looking for an alternative to the greed-driven, selfish leadership that has resulted in corporations where the workers are treated as interchangeable parts. This book shows how the human factors can be used to unlock higher returns on human capital such that workers are no longer interchangeable parts, but assets that are cared about and grown. Refreshingly innovative, Transforming IT Culture shows how neuroscientific and psychological research can be applied in the IT workplace to unleash a vast pool of untapped potential.

  • Written by an expert on IT culture transformation

  • Considers the widespread "cultural blindness" in business today, and how it can be addressed

  • Draws on the author's repeated success transforming IT divisions across major corporations by applying the human factors

  • Explains why social intelligence, human factors, and collaboration are the source of harmony, shared learning, mutual respect, and value creation

    • Employees want positive change in business, something to stop the downward spiral we are on, both financially and emotionally. Transforming IT Culture shows how the essential ingredient to any high performing IT department is a culture where employees are valued and managed to their strengths. Using the Information Technology profession as a lens through which we can understand knowledge worker productivity and how to seriously improve it, this important new book reveals why Collaborative Social Systems are essential to every organization.

    Table of contents

    1. Cover
    2. Contents
    3. Title
    4. Copyright
    5. Dedication
    6. Foreword
    7. Acknowledgments
    8. Introduction
      1. The Passing of an Era
      2. A New Era Brings a New Focus
      3. A Quick Book Tour
      4. Note
    9. Chapter 1: A Shining Light: The Blind Spot Revealed
      1. A Race to the Bottom
      2. Human Understanding Enters the Workplace
      3. We Have Been Taught Not to See or Feel
      4. Unlocking Human Potential
      5. Dawn of a New Productivity Model
      6. Working Social
      7. The Social System Is the Factory
      8. Notes
    10. Chapter 2: Corporate America’s IT Organization: Failure Is All Too Common
      1. Still Broken after All These Years . . .
      2. Unfortunately, the Truth Is Worse
      3. If We Would Just Embrace and Trust Our People . . .
      4. Offshore Outsourcing: A Deeper Look
      5. Notes
    11. Chapter 3: Workers as Machines: A Social Pathology
      1. He’s a Good Hand
      2. The Machine Age: Still Felt Today
      3. Birth of Corporate Easter Islands
      4. Our Human Resource Practices Remain Primitive
      5. Selectively Continue the Past; Fully Embrace the Future
      6. Notes
    12. Chapter 4: The Unseen Art and Emotion of IT: The Acme Inc. Philharmonic Orchestra: Knowledge as Notes, Leaders as Conductors, Programmers as Composers
      1. A Product of Mind and Emotion
      2. Limitations of Language and Our Resultant Inability to Communicate
      3. Social Cohesion and Conceptual Unity
      4. And the Instruments Keep Changing
      5. The Encore. A Callback. Bravo!
      6. Note
    13. Chapter 5: Case Study: An Unproductive State of Mind: Toxic Leadership and Its Aftermath
      1. Toxic to Competitive Advantage
      2. Conclusion
      3. Note
    14. Chapter 6: What Are We Waiting For? Applied Science at Work
      1. Hawthorne Studies
      2. Pygmalion in the Classroom
      3. Empathy, Caring, and Compassion
      4. Organizational Citizenship Behavior
      5. Mood Is Contagious
      6. Limbic System
      7. Maslow: Humanism in the Workplace
      8. Working Memory
      9. Mirror Neurons
      10. Other Thoughts
      11. Notes
    15. Chapter 7: Empathy and Compassion: The Socially Cohesive and Resilient Organization
      1. The Toxic Handler: Empathy and Compassion in Action
      2. Dysfunctional Organizations Have Less Time for Compassion
      3. Empathy and Compassion: A Research Perspective
      4. Notes
    16. Chapter 8: Designing a Collaborative Social System: Working Social: How the Right Culture Unlocks Productivity
      1. Designing Collaborative Social Systems
      2. Why a Collaborative Social System Matters
      3. Notes
    17. Chapter 9: The Social Compact: Organizational Citizenship Behavior
      1. Living the Values
      2. Shaping IT: One Interaction at a Time
      3. Courtesy Is Contagious
      4. Giving versus Getting
      5. Citizenship Performance
      6. Notes
    18. Chapter 10: The Servant Leader: Prosocial and Authentic
      1. Opening Night
      2. Using Social Intelligence and Caring to Lead from Below
      3. Conducting Styles
      4. Servant Leadership in IT: Giving Credit While Silently Helping Drive Group Success
      5. Academic Views
      6. Moving the Group from “I Get It” to “I See It”
      7. Notes
    19. Chapter 11: Social and Emotional Intelligence: The Organizational Canvas Meets the Social Paintbrush
      1. Personal and Social Competence
      2. Sogence in Action
      3. Understanding Expression: A Social Skill from Our Past
      4. Good Vibrations: The Right Social Sentiment Energizes a Performance
      5. Notes
    20. Chapter 12: Designing an Innovative Culture
      1. Talent and Mood
      2. The Human Factors
      3. Build a Culture of Creativity
    21. Chapter 13: Workforce Planning: Maximizing the Productivity of Your Talent—Today and Tomorrow
      1. Workforce Planning Gap
      2. Goals and Process
      3. Context Diagram
      4. Outsourcing and Offshoring
      5. Notes
    22. Chapter 14: How to Successfully Transform Your Organization: Putting It All Together
      1. High-Level Outline
      2. Best Practices in Detail
      3. Conclusion
    23. About The Author
    24. Index

    Product information

    • Title: Transforming IT Culture: How to Use Social Intelligence, Human Factors and Collaboration to Create an IT Department That Outperforms
    • Author(s): Frank Wander
    • Release date: February 2013
    • Publisher(s): Wiley
    • ISBN: 9781118436530