Overstock is an online retailer doing business through the internet. The company gives an opportunity to the customer to bargain and also offers its supplier an alternative inventory liquidation channel. The overstock is growing tremendously and its operating system is struggling with customer transaction and reporting loads. The overstock registered trademark as overstock.com Inc.
The overstock is collecting liquidation stock from the whole country and shipping it from their warehouse which is situated in Salt Lake City, Utah. They are buying in large quantities and make them available to manufacturers at lesser prices than the wholesalers and hence they saving are passed to customers. Moreover, the Website is ranked in the top 150 in the world of visitors.
In overstock, there is a problem relating to the system i.e. the problem relating to updates. The updates problems are relating to inventory updates failure, missing orders, missing images, incorrect status synchs, etc. This will lead to overstock failure. The updates include a set of oracle applications and the ability to send small files. Actually, the file is not able to send properly it becomes corrupted in transferring or it produces errors in receiving system attempts to process.
Politics is the part of the organization and hence the organization is in a hierarchical structure, which means authority is passed from top-level to lower level, and therefore the power of position is an important source of power. A manager can use his power to facilitate and can create a good working atmosphere.
“Politics can be necessary to get things done and to achieve success for both the individual and the organization.” (Cox, 2006).
Organizational power politics means individuals’ potentiality in achieving the objective in organizational workgroups. Organizational politics is an important part of every employee who works in a formal or informal group.
Basically, Shwengman is giving more importance in companies current system rather than the company’s success and he also projected problems rather than giving an exact solution for the problem. Although accountability is important that is to be handled with responsibility.
Technology helps to increase productivity in an organization. So the technology is to be used effectively to achieve the desired goal. Information is an important asset in the organization so it should pass to the correct person who will use it effectively. Thus by the introduction of new technology will lead to lower production costs in the organization.
Advanced technology leads the organization to utilize the human capital in a new way, it also helps to eliminate their limitation in growing. “Technology, thus, is the conscious invention of ways of acting on the material world to meet our needs.” (Impact of intranet on organizational function, 2002).
Information is very essential in every organization so it should be managed in a good manner; it is the important resource of the organization which will help to achieve the organizational goal. So it should not be leaked in any way. But the CIO is giving more importance to the current system and their problems but he is not giving importance to the company’s success.
The Overstock.com CIO’s is not following good organizational politics. Controlling information is a very important function of the CIO. The CIO should have a clear idea of how the organization works and its objectives. Before taking any decision the CIO had to consult the concerned authority. Securing the integration, reliability, and security of information is a very important function of the information management systems in organizations. The CIO deals with the information management system. So he should be very careful in handling the information about the company. If there is any problem with the information management system in the company the problem should be cleared within the department.
In Overstock, there was a problem relating to technology updating which may lead to the failure of the company. The CIO had sent a note to its key business partners about these technical shortcomings. The information is leaked and the CIO had been blamed for that. He should have a deal with that problem in a different way. He should communicate the problem with his team members and should make a decision jointly.
The CIO plays a very important role in helping the company to achieve its strategic objective. The CIO is a person who is responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support the organization to attain its objectives. “The role of a CIO is to deliver the specific information that the business needs in order to operate smoothly-and deliver that information, however, the business may need it. But it also goes further than that: a really good CIO turns that information into intelligence.” (Pandey, 2005).
In order to deliver effective information, the CIO has to deal with all the areas of business. Because of the importance of information technology in modern organizations, the CIO is now viewed as a key contributor in formulating strategic goals.
While technology is considered an important part of every organization so the CIO must handle it more carefully without any leakage. He must be careful that leakage will create a lot of problems even the company’s reputation will be a loss. Moreover, technology is the way that will help to meet the needs of the customer. Information power is most often used to control the information needed by the subordinates to do their work. The CIO must only pass the required information.
The management of information technology requires more than technical skills. Some decisions create political dilemmas in the organization. So the CIO should be very careful in taking decisions. To become a good CIO he must possess the ability to think strategically and use IT as a way to achieve the strategic objective. He should be able to delegate authority with responsibility. The CIO should evaluate the problem with the team members instead of criticizing it.
Reference
Cox, Geof. (2006). Positive Organization Politics, Cuttings. Web.
Impact of an intranet on organizational function: Search results on Organizational Politics Power, (2002). Academon. Web.
Pandey, Ravi Shekhar. (2005). Today, what kind of role does a CIO play as a business leader?: Juniper networks – “CIOs are not just about technology”, Voice & Data. Web.