Assignment
Semester 1, 2023
Unit Name: Information Technology Management Unit: ICT310
TOTAL MARKS: 40 Weighting: 40%
Instruction:
Students should submit the softcopy of their document to the Turnitin link that is provided on Moodle in the assessment folder (ITIL)
Instruction:
Put together your answers in a word document to be submitted in Turnitin via Moodle.
Case Study for this assignment is available in the Assignment folder in Moodle. You are required to read the case study together with your group and encouraged to provide clear and precise answers to the questions below. You are expected to provide intext referencing and reference summary at the end of your report.
Q1. Discuss clearly at what stage of the Information Technology Infrastructure Li
ary (ITIL) volumes were EDS when they started planning for the improvement of the project. Support your answer with evidence from the case study. [5 marks]
Q2. The case concluded that
"As most important drivers of performance, both Vodafone and EDS agree on:
· EDS management is needed on site and the counterparts should match, the latter is mentioned as a critical success factor;
· a good relationship / partnership between both companies is crucial for success;
· Putting the right people in the right places is crucial for improvements;
· Having a mutual strategy and spreading messages motivates employees;
(
4
)
· Employees are more motivated when they have the feeling they are part of, and belong to, the company"
Based on the Information Technology Infrastructure Li
ary lifecycle processes, for each of the bullet points above, what ITIL process should they implement for each bullet point?
Please elaborate your answer with convincing discussions. [10 marks]
Q3. The case concluded that
"The interventions that influenced the behaviour positively are:
· Having an open and more proactive attitude towards the client;
· With less emphasis on operational level and more acting on tactical level;
· And more matching the clients’ counterpart;
· Having the ability to empower people to do their job;
· Having the ability to communicate with people, based on simple facts (confront the
utal facts)."
Based on the IT Service Management's value to the business, which benefit(s) are each of the bullet points related to? Please elaborate your answer with convincing discussions.
[10 marks]
Q4. The case concluded that
"Based upon the case study, the interventions that influenced the behaviour negatively are:
· The lack of management attention in general;
· The passive attitude of management (lack of confession);
· The indistinctness of management;
· The leadership on site
· Not having a clear strategy."
Which Information Technology Infrastructure Li
ary lifecycle process(es) would you use to fix each of those negative behaviour? Please elaborate your answer with convincing discussions. [10 marks]
Q5. References [5 marks]
Marking Guide
Poo
Fai
Good
Very Good
Excellent
Question 1
Little
Basic knowledge
Adequate
Good
In depth
understanding of
of the discussion
knowledge of the
understanding of
knowledg
the material
of the stages of
discussion of the
the discussion of
e of the
presented
the ITIL Lifecycle
stages of the ITIL
the stages of the
discussion
and the material
Lifecycle and the
ITIL Lifecycle and
of the
presented
material
supporting
stages of
presented
knowledge
the ITIL
presented
Lifecycle
and the
supportin
g material
presented
, above
and
beyond
requirem
ents (5
marks)
Question 2
Little
Basic knowledge
Adequate
Good
In depth
understanding of
of the discussion
knowledge of the
understanding of
knowledg
the material
of the ITIL
discussion of the
the discussion of
e of the
presented
lifecycle process
ITIL lifecycle
the ITIL lifecycle
discussion
and the
process and the
process and the
and the
supporting
supporting
knowledge
supportin
material
material
presented
g
presented
presented
material,
above
and
beyond
requirem
ents (10
marks)
Question 3
Little
Basic knowledge
Adequate
Good
In depth
understanding of
of the discussion
knowledge of the
understanding of
knowledg
the material
of the benefits
discussion of the
the discussion of
e of the
presented
and the
benefits and the
the benefits and
discussion
supporting
supporting
the supporting
of the
material
material
knowledge
benefits
presented
presented
presented
and the
supportin
g
material,
above and beyond requirem ents (10
marks)
Question 4
Little
Basic knowledge
Adequate
Good
In depth
understanding of
of the discussion
knowledge of the
understanding of
knowledg
the material
of the ITIL
discussion of the
the discussion of
e of the
presented
lifecycle process
ITIL lifecycle
the ITIL lifecycle
discussion
and the
process and the
process and the
and the
supporting
supporting
knowledge
supportin
material
material
presented
g
presented
presented
material,
above
and
beyond
requirem
ents (10
marks)
Question 5 Referencing
Little or no evidence of any citations or reference list
Little or no evidence of any citations or reference list
Referencing skills minimally intact, inaccurate and with multiple e
ors
Referencing skills mainly intact, accurate and well- used with some e
ors
Referencing skills fully intact, accurate and well- used no obvious e
ors (5marks)
Total
sv-lncs
Good to Great in IT Service Management: A Case Study van der Brugh & Silvius
Communications of the IIMA XXXXXXXXXXVolume 9, Issue 4 21
Good to Great in IT Service Management: A Case Study
Eric van der Brugh
A. J. Gilbert Silvius
Utrecht University of Applied Sciences
NETHERLANDS
XXXXXXXXXX
ABSTRACT
For IT services companies, delivering high quality IT services is of eminent importance. IT
service quality drives customer satisfaction, which in its turn drives firm performance. It is this
link that is addressed in this paper: How can the performance of customer service delivery teams
e improved, when looked upon from the perspective of firm performance?
Based on the literature on excellent performing organizations, we apply the concepts that,
according to Collins (2001), drove the development of ‘good’ companies to ‘great’ companies to
a case study of an under performing service delivery team that developed into an excellent
performing service delivery team. The lessons from this study were that most of the drivers
ehind the performance improvement of this team were in fact ‘soft’ factors that concerned the
human side of the team more than the organizational, procedural or structural measures.
INTRODUCTION
Delivering information technology (IT) related services is one of the core tasks of the IT
function of any organization (Ratcliffe, XXXXXXXXXXDue to continuous evolvement of the role of IT in
organizations, the quality of IT services has become increasingly important. This is illustrated by
the growing interest of the academic community for IT service quality. Studies on this topic have
een performed by, amongst others (Hochstein, Tamm, & Brenner 2005; Pitt, Berthon, & Land
1998; Niessink & van Vliet, 1998; Potgieter, Botha, & Lew, 2005; Watson, Pitt, & Kavan, 1998;
Praeg & Schnabel XXXXXXXXXXFor IT services companies, delivering high quality IT services is of
even more importance. Service quality effects customer satisfaction, which in its turn effects
firm performance (Yoon & Im, XXXXXXXXXXImproving the performance of customer service delivery
teams is therefore a crucial concern for the management of IT services companies. It is this
performance issue that this paper addresses: How can the performance of customer service
delivery teams be improved, when looked upon from the perspective of firm performance?
Firm performance, and understanding why some firms outperform others, are primary topic of
Strategic management theory (Rumelt, Schendel, & Teece, XXXXXXXXXXOne of the first books on
excellent performing companies was published by Peters and Waterman XXXXXXXXXXIn their analysis,
successful companies have an action oriented attitude, are customer focused, stimulate autonomy
and entrepreneurship, strive for higher labor productivity, focus on core competences, have a
simple organizational structure and propagate empowerment. Despite criticism on the academic
quality of their research, the Peters and Waterman book became a bestseller of management
literature. Since then, more studies and publications followed in search of a universal theory on
high performance. Like Peters and Waterman, most of these studies were criticized by the
mailto: XXXXXXXXXX�
Good to Great in IT Service Management: A Case Study van der Brugh & Silvius
Communications of the IIMA XXXXXXXXXXVolume 9, Issue 4 22
academics because of their lack of rigor of the research (e.g. by Aupperle, Acar, & Booth, 1986),
ut were em
aced by practitioners as guidelines for success. Most studies describe common
characteristics of successful organizations, without testing whether the factors and results have a
causal relationship (Carlile & Christensen, XXXXXXXXXXThe ultimate theory on high performance,
however, will tell companies not just what the characteristics of excellence performance are, but
most of all how to become excellent.
One of the latest works in this field that reached bestseller status, and that describes the process
of becoming excellent, is Jim Collins’ XXXXXXXXXXbook ‘Good to Great’ (G2G). This paper uses
Collins’ views in analyzing how the performance of customer service delivery teams can be
improved.
After a
ief introduction into IT service management, the following paragraph will explore
Collins’ concepts of G2G, followed by an explanation of the research approach and design of the
study. After this, the setting of our case will be described, followed by the findings of the study.
The paper will be concluded with a summary of the results and some conclusions, resulting in a
ecommendation for IT Service Delivery firms to take into account when setting up service
delivery teams.
IT SERVICE MANAGEMENT
IT Service Management (ITSM) is a discipline for managing IT systems, philosophically
centered on the customer's perspective of IT's contribution to the business (Praeg & Schnabel,
2006). ITSM stands in deliberate contrast to technology-centered approaches to IT management
and business interaction. “Providers of IT services can no longer afford to focus on technology
and their internal organization, they now have to consider the quality of the services they provide
and focus on the relationship with customers“ (ITSM Forum, 2002).
In ITSM, it’s common practice to use models and frameworks as illustrations of ‘best practices’.
Over time, dozens of ITSM or service delivery models and working methods were developed.
One of the most well known is the IT Infrastructure Li
ary, or ITIL (CCTA, XXXXXXXXXXITIL
describes the topic of Service Delivery as follows:
“The Service Delivery discipline is primarily concerned with the proactive and forward-looking
services that the business requires of its IT services provider in order to provide adequate support
to the business users. It is focused on the business as the customer of the IT services. The
discipline consists of the following processes:
• Service Level Management;
• Capacity Management;
• IT Service Continuity Management;
• Availability Management;
• Financial Management.”
Good to Great in IT Service Management: A Case Study van der Brugh & Silvius
Communications of the IIMA XXXXXXXXXXVolume 9, Issue 4 23
GOOD TO GREAT
Based on data covering a time frame of 30 years (1965 to 1995), Collins analyzed how excelling
companies like Fannie Mae, Gillette, Kimberly-Clark, Kroger, Nucor, Philip Mo
is, Pitney
Bowes, Walgreens and Wells Fargo, produced sustained great results and achieved enduring
greatness. He identified 11 companies that followed a pattern of "fifteen-year cumulative stock
eturns at or below the general stock market, punctuated by a transition point, then cumulative
eturns at least three times the market over the next fifteen years." (Collins, XXXXXXXXXXPublic
companies were selected because of the availability of comparable data. Fifteen-year segments
were selected to weed out the one-hit wonders and luck
eaks.
The G2G companies were selected from a larger group of successful companies. Companies that
failed to make the G2G status fall in to two categories. The first category being companies in the
same industry and with the same resources and opportunities as the G2G group but that showed
no leap in performance. The other category being companies that made a short-term shift from
good to great but failed to maintain the trajectory.
His study uncovers six timeless principles on how companies grow from ‘good’ to ‘great’. This
paper will handle