1.) Why can an IT governance archetype be good for one type of IS decision but not for another? Discuss this question in the Context of the Alcoa case and issue faced by CIO of the company:

After several months in the job of chief information officer (CIO) of Alcoas Industrial Chemicals Busi- ness, Kevin Horner received a wake-up call from the president of the business:

"We chose you because you were the best of the IT group, and you are doing a great job completing IT projects and managing the IT organization. But I am afraid that you dont know the business of your business. You havent thoroughly answered my repeated questions about how much IT costs the business! Furthermore, you cant communicate with the people running the business in words they understand!"

As a high-achieving math major in college with minors in computer science and business, Horner was quite savvy about his craft and did not expect to hear these remarks. When he protested that the structure of the financial information in European and Asian subsidiaries made it really difficult to find the answer, his bosss response surprised him: If it wasnt a hard problem, I wouldnt need you here!

Interpreting this unpleasant meeting as his being under review for possible ouster, Horner saw this as a wake-up call to the true meaning of being a C-level executive. He had found some answers about cost issues, but many of the financial numbers were buriedinextricably intertwined in general categories of financial statements in Europe and Asia. He had some early results, but managing the IT group took most of his time and effort.

Further, his early presentations were heavy with technical details and were often met with glazed eyes and yawns. Horner reported that he began to realize that this audience did not want to hear about the tech- nology. They certainly wanted me to handle technology issues, but they wanted me to communicate with them in words they understood . . . people, time, money and the possibilities technology created for them in their businesses. Most importantly they wanted me to help them to use IT to grow the business at either the top line (sales) or bottom line (net income).

Horner embarked on a re-energized mission to answer all of the presidents concerns in a more complete way, and that mission ultimately paid handsome dividends both to him and Alcoa. If success can be meas- ured by promotions, he went far beyond redeeming himself. After five years as CIO of Alcoa Chemical, he had many promotions until he ultimately became CIO of Alcoa Global.