Know-How Exchange : Strategy

Why don't you pick the area where the larger contribution can be made and more benefit can be derived to the business community?

Hi Tash,
Ask yourself whether you are interested in specific area (specialization) or broad area (general). IT Management will sharpen your IT skill and knowledge. Strategic management will enrich you in making corporate policy .

From my limited understanding of your situation, I beliedve strategic has higher altitude than IT project. if you can somehow combine the two by using IT project as a part of Strategic management, it may be able to show both specific project management and the overall strategic management. hope you have the time and energy to pull this off.

while some will argue that having a specialty expertise will boost your career, others will argue that strategic management will also have a broader possibility for your career. I would say that you trust your gut feeling;

good luck

tlshah

If your background and work experience is mainly in iT, I would do as earlier suggested and merge the two: "IT as an enabler for Strategic Execution".

Best of luck with your thesis.

ChrisB

Hi Tash

My advice really depends on the quality of your existing knowledge in IT Project management.

Fundamentally I believe that you should choose the topic that will be closest to the core of what you want to do long term. Establish expertise to build credibility. This will form the base from which you can then build / develop further and succeed.

The fact that you have said you have a personal interest in IT Project Management would make me lean in that direction. It will be much easier to commit to an area that you have a personal interest in. And, dare I say it, may be passionate about.

If however you already have a credible reputation in the area of IT Project Management then this is not so much of an opportunity to establish the core I spoke of above but to add on to that core.

There are many interesting things that you will come across in your career and there will always be something new to learn. You have an exciting opportunity ahead of you.

All the best with the dissertation and I'm sure we all look forward to hearing what decision you made.

Best regards

Dan

Hi Tash,

I am in agreement with what has been said by previous replies.

My suggestion would be to combine both topics somehow (I find it more relevant and difficult in "real life" the implementation of strategy than its definition. And typically, MBAs focus more in the later).

What about a project to create a balanced scorecard that helps drive application of a "transformation" strategic plan?. You can focus into one of the components of your strategic map that requires an update on processes and systems so that you have your IT project management component.

For example:

1. company A that as a result of their strategic plan decide to outsource international production plants to increase variable/fixed costs ratio.
2. their strategic plan would decline into a strategic map of 12 components, 7 of which would be in relation to operational efficiency improvements: which ones? (the strategy part of your project)
3. one of them is the roll out of a new ERP program that facilitates operational work with the outsourcing companies of your plants. Create a comprehensive plan with dates, objectives and KPIs (your IT project management part)

hope this helps
rg

San.