Question

Stanley Lynch Investment Group

The Stanley Lynch Investment Group is a large investment firm headquartered in New York. The firm has 12 major investment funds, each with analysts operating in a separate department. Along with knowledge of the financial markets and the businesses it analyzes, Stanley Lynch's competitive advantage comes from its advanced and reliable computer systems. Thus an effective information technology (IT) division is a strategic necessity, and the company's chief information officer (CIO) holds a key role at the firm.

When the company hired J.T. Kundra as a manager of technology, he earned that the IT division at Stanley Lynch consisted of 68 employees, most of whom specialized in serving the needs of a particular fund. The IT employees serving a fund operated as a distinct group, each of them led by a manager who supervised several employees. (Five employees reported to J.T.)

He also learned that each group set up its own computer system to store information about its projects. The problems with that arrangement quickly became evident. As J.T. tried to direct his group's work, he would ask for documentation one program or another. Sometimes, no one was sure where to find the documentation; often he would get three different responses from three different people with three versions of the documentation. And if he was interested in another group's project or a software program used in another department, getting information was next to impossible. He lacked the authority to ask employees in another group to drop what they were doing to hunt down information he needed.

J.T. concluded that the entire IT division could serve the firm much better if all authorized people has easy access to the work that had already been done and the software that was available. The logical place to store that information was online. He wanted to get all IT projects set up in a clod so that file sharing, and therefore knowledge sharing, would be more efficient and reliable. A challenge would be to get the other IT groups to buy in to the new system given that he had authority over so few of the IT workers.

J.T. started by working with his group blueprint how the system would work. Them he met with two higher-level managers who report to the CIO . He showed them the plan and explained that fast access to information would improve the IT group's quality and efficiency, thus increasing the productivity of the entire firm. He suggested that the managers require all IT employees to use the cloud system. He even persuaded them that their use of the system should be measured for performance appraisals, which directly impacts annual bonuses.

The various IT groups quickly came to appreciate that the system would enhance performance. Adoption was swift, and before long, the IT employees came to think of it as one of their most important software systems.

Attach an organization structure that would show a matrix - focus on the 'analysts' and 'IT'

Answer 1

J.T. Kundra of Stanley Lynch Investment Group proposed a matrix organizational structure that enhances collaboration between IT and analysts by implementing a centralized cloud system for information sharing to improve the firm's efficiency and productivity.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question involves addressing an organizational structural issue within Stanley Lynch Investment Group, highlighting the role played by IT divisions in supporting the firm's analysts across various investment funds. J.T. Kundra's initiative for enhancing information sharing and efficiency through a cloud-based system addresses problems with the existing decentralized documentation practices. A matrix organizational structure, which is typically used to manage projects or products that cut across traditional functional lines, would entail IT specialists and analysts from various funds working together under dual reporting relationships.

In such a structure, an employee could have a functional manager (IT manager for IT employees) and also a product/line manager (a portfolio manager from investment funds). This enables better coordination, communication, and resource allocation among IT and analyst teams. IT personnel can share their expertise and developments across all funds, optimizing the firm's overall performance. J.T. Kundra's approach to getting buy-in for the new cloud system can be analyzed using change management and leadership strategies within a matrix setup.