Managing Computers in Large Organizations

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the original typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution. CONTROL THROUGH PERSUASION 135 Control Through Persuasion Allan Z. Loren* President John F. Kennedy told the story of the leader in the French Revolution who said, “There go my people. I must find out where they are going so I can lead them.” This story suggests how CIGNA developed its approach for managing the proliferation of computer technology. It is an approach I call “control through persuasion.” Perhaps the main reason this approach has worked so well is that it grew out of the particular character of our organization. CIGNA is both an old company and a new company. Formed by the largest merger in the financial services industry, CIGNA is a blending of the old Insurance Company of North America (or INA) and the old Connecticut General. It is a diversified financial services organization with over 40,000 people worldwide, $35 billion in assets, 1983 revenues of $12.5 billion, and an after-tax income of $400 million. CIGNA's Employee Life and Health Benefits Division is the nation's sixth largest provider of group insurance products, which include life, medical, and dental insurance. We are among the largest providers of property and casualty insurance and risk * Allan Z. Loren is senior vice-president of CIGNA's Systems Division, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Managing Microcomputers in Large Organizations http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html About this PDF file: This new digital representation of the original work has been recomposed from XML files created from the original paper book, not from the original typesetting files. Page breaks are true to the original; line lengths, word breaks, heading styles, and other typesetting-specific formatting, however, cannot be retained, and some typographic errors may have been accidentally inserted. Please use the print version of this publication as the authoritative version for attribution. CONTROL THROUGH PERSUASION 136 management services in the world. We have international operations in 147 countries and the largest investor-owned health maintenance organization in the country. Ranked as one of the nation's top 10 managers of private pension funds, CIGNA's Employee Retirement and Savings Benefit Division provides a wide range of group annuity products and services and diversified investment vehicles for pension, profit-sharing, and employee-paid investment and savings programs. In addition, CIGNA's Investment Group provides a variety of investment and portfolio management services and is among the nation's top asset management organizations. As a result of these different operations CIGNA is a melding of distinct and different cultures. Even before the merger, however, the cultures of the predecessor companies were very diverse. Some areas have a centralized vertical management; others have a more bottom-up management style. Different styles are intermingled among the various operations. Several years ago we became aware of a couple of trends related to technology and to our “customers,” that is, our agents and other employees. First, technology was becoming less expensive, more plentiful, and more widely available. Second, a new type of employee/customer was beginning to emerge, younger than average, highly educated, and accustomed to a wide variety of automation capabilities. These new types began populating CIGNA in all of the company's support functions, including marketing, financial analysis, actuarial, and accounting. We concluded that to control and manage the upcoming “technology explosion” and at the same time satisfy the needs of this new employee/customer group, we needed to let customers experiment with technology. Enforcing firm central control and policy would not be possible or desirable given the diverse cultural environment and management styles characteristic of CIGNA. At the same time, of course, we didn't want to abdicate responsibility. The philosophy we came up with for managing technology might be described as “planting the seeds and letting the flowers bloom.” To complement this philosophy we established an End-User Support Group in 1975. This group, comprised of people with a marketing orientation, circulated within the corporation to get close to our new customers and to learn what their needs were. More importantly, this group worked to facilitate the use of technology Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Page 1 and 2:
http://www.nap.edu/catalog/167.html
Page 3 and 4:
Managing Microcomputers in Large Or
Page 5 and 6:
Page 7 and 8:
Page 9 and 10:
Page 11 and 12:
Page 13 and 14:
Page 15 and 16:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29 and 30:
Page 31 and 32:
Page 33 and 34:
Page 35 and 36:
Page 37 and 38:
Page 39 and 40:
Page 41 and 42:
Page 43 and 44:
Page 45 and 46:
Page 47 and 48:
Page 49 and 50:
Page 51 and 52:
Page 53 and 54:
Page 55 and 56:
Page 57 and 58:
Page 59 and 60:
Page 61 and 62:
Page 63 and 64:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94: Managing Microcomputers in Large Or
Page 143: Managing Microcomputers in Large Or
show all

Managing Computers in Large Organizations

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?