Organizational Development for Knowledge Management at Water ...

deviation and the median falls in the 3.0 range (medium). These indicators can now be
combined with the responses to question 10: “The following statements relate to the information
systems in your organization” to build a deeper understanding of the perception of the role of
information technology (and by extension information technology master planning) and the
mission of the Utility. See Table A.6 below.
Table A.6
Information systems in drinking water utilities.
Statement N Yes No N/A
(A) Systems are considered mission critical to the organization 193 171 22 14
(B) The Information Technology Department (ITD) is heavily 190* 119 69 17
involved with and understands the business mission
(C) ITD is viewed as a solution provider for business problems 189* 102 86 18
(D) ITD is viewed as the technical help desk, and not helpful in 185* 85 100 22
solving business problems
*Two responses for B above were “both yes and no”, one response for C was “sometimes”, and one response for D
was “neither”.
Source: Project 4003 survey process
Note that while the data presented in Tables A.5 and A.6 is from the same group of Utility
leaders/managers, only 185 responders provided an opinion on the strength of information
technology master planning and the organization’s mission. In contrast, the statements labeled
A, B and C in Table A.6 drew a larger number of responses. Here are some key percentages:
88.6% of 193 responders agree that systems are mission critical to the organization.
62.6% of 190 responders agree that ITD is heavily involved with and understands the
business mission.
54% of 189 responders agree that ITD is a solution provider for business problems.
45.9% of 185 responders agree that ITD is not helpful in solving business problems.
The last two bullets above represent the same question looked at from two different directions.
While there is a larger perception (62.6%) that ITD is involved with and understands the
business mission, there is a lower perception (54%) of its effectiveness in handling business
problems. From this response, it is clear that while the value of information technology is
recognized as mission critical (88.6%), there is still some work to do in order for information
technology to strongly support the business mission. When these indicators are considered with
the patterns created from responses to the data presented in Table A.6, there are two potential
findings. Either (1) information technology—and more specifically, ITD—has not been
sufficiently developed or effectively embedded in support of the business needs of drinking
water utilities, or (2) leaders and managers who responded to this survey instrument
(representing 207 drinking water utilities nation-wide) are not aware of or do not understand the
role that information technology is playing in their utilities. In either case, it is clear that
Knowledge Management can contribute to helping drinking water utilities engage the full
Appendix A 39
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