7.1 Introduction

During the past few years a trend has been reversed. In the 1980s and early 1990s, as IT became more embedded within organizations, more and more companies decided to invite their most senior IT person onto the main board. After all, this made sense. Just as human resources and finance needed their representation on the board, so IT had to make its presence felt at the highest levels. More and more IT directors joined the inner sanctum .

Recently, however, we have witnessed an increasing number of IT directors and CIOs being, once again, subordinated to other senior board members, and being removed from their exalted status. We also recognize that the number of IT people who move into more senior roles, such as CEO or chairman, is significantly lower than one would anticipate statistically. Compared to their counterparts in finance and marketing, for example, relatively few IT people break into these most senior, general management roles.

As we meet and talk to many senior IT people, we are hearing what we heard years ago: that IT is misunderstood, badly treated, and undervalued. The role of the IT director or CIO is precarious; and IT people are complaining of being under the thumb of their senior colleagues once again.

In this chapter we shall explore some of the reasons why this may be. Is it true that IT remains misunderstood by IT-phobic senior managers? Or is there something in...