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Five Measures of Management (continued)

That's because smaller IT teams often take a more entrepreneurial approach to problem solving. The IT department of Jason's Deli, a multi-million dollar, multi-state chain of restaurants headquartered in Dallas, Texas, is composed of a CIO and 11 staff members. "Each person is essential to the business and the group is very much on its game," says Lee Greer, marketing director. "For example, when one of our delis loses its Internet connection and can't get customers' online orders for delivery, our IT staff is immediately aware of the problem, and will either send the orders to the affected deli's fax machine or call them in. They make sure nothing interrupts our business."

Young says this is the ultimate advantage of the newer management structures. "A flat but multi-disciplinary structure allows you to have line-of-sight to results. It means fewer managers, self-empowered teams and more seamless operations."

The New World Is Flat
There are three basic structures in this new IT world: centralized, decentralized and federated. Each has its own set of advantages and disadvantages. The solely centralized model runs the risk that new developments can disappear into the black hole of a functional silo, while the typical decentralized model often spawns repetitive functions and concomitant costs. "The federated model tends to have the new development function spread out across the firm with infrastructure operations increasingly becoming a central/shared service and with a line from local-to-central IT for strategic functions like the CTO and the office of the CIO," explains Cameron.

IT managers needn't be bound to one specific structure. There is an infinite number of combinations blending characteristics from all three. (article continues)

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