Case Study 1This is a problem solving assignment and a chance to apply both what you have learned about problem solving and also the case is about information technology. Thus you can blend both skill

Surething Insurance: The Disempowered CIO

John Thompson, CSC Research Services , and Espen Andersen , Norwegian School of Management , prepared this case as the basis for

class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation. The contents are based

on an actual situation, but names and events have been disguised.

This case may be freely used for teaching and other non-commercial purposes as long as this notice is not removed.

Instructors can get a teaching note with discussion of the case and some suggestions for teaching by sending an email to Espen

Andersen .

Al is the CIO of Surething Insurance, a large, multinational full-service insurance company. He has had the job

for two years. The company is proud of the decentralized autonomy that business units are given -- though this

operating line culture often leads to a lack of coordination between operating groups. To compensate for this, Al

was hired by the CEO to be the coordinator of the different I/T approaches taken by the business units and to

advise the Executive Committee on the strategic aspects of Information Technology. Several operations (e.g.

PC maintenance) have been outsourced and the business units conduct most operational activities (e.g., systems

development and data center operations). Al has a small group of senior systems people reporting to him and he

reports to the CFO who sits on the Executive Committee.

Al is unhappy in his job. In his previous job, at a smaller company, he had line responsibility for the I/T

operations. Here, it seems, he is held accountable without having any authority over the business units’ I/T. His

advice “on strategic aspects” is rarely sought, and, if offered, never followed. His small staff of people is not

respected, but Al feels it would be risky to replace them since they know more about the mission-critical

systems of the company than he does. He struggles to get budget to do anything and continuously has to defer to

the power of the line management. He wonders how Ed, the SVP of Investments, manages to get what he wants

when Al, another senior staff person, has so much difficulty. The last 6 months, he has seriously been

considering going somewhere else--he feels he is going nowhere at SureThing but wonders whether the job of

CIO (which he has always coveted) would be any better anywhere else.

Paul, the CEO, is unhappy with Al. Although Al reports to the CFO, Paul recognizes that I/T is not an area of

interest for the CFO and so Paul involves himself in the technology, knowing it can make a competitive

difference to SureThing. “Al is not assertive enough”, says Paul, “he seems to lack self-confidence and he

spends too much time getting permission to do something instead of just doing it. He should stand up for what

he believes in much more.” Paul wonders why Al cannot be more like Ed – who moves with firm confidence,

builds consensus and gets things done by including colleagues, never surprising superiors.

Two recent events have brought Al to despair:

z The personal lines division has decided to write a new premium system themselves--in COBOL. Al has

repeatedly pointed out that corporate policy demands a package be used and yet he knows that the reason

for this decision is that there are a number of COBOL programmers in the personal lines division and this

would give them some job security. Al has been to the Executive Committee to get them to support his

campaign for best practice standards throughout the company; he hopes that under this he will be able to

declare COBOL development "non-standard" and get the Executive Committee’s support to stop the

project.

z Al went to his boss to ask for $100,000 for CSC Research Services. There was a lot of discussion about

whether this would be cost justified. Finally he was told “If you want it so badly, find it in your budget by

firing a couple of your mediocre people.” Al wondered why a CEO had to be so picky about a $100,000

expenditure by his CIO; Paul wondered why a CIO had to take up so much of his CEO’s time arguing

about $100,000. Al had to grovel to get the $100,000 for research; why, Al wonders, doesn’t Ed ever

have to

grovel?

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