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Q5 What Are the Challenges of International IS Management? 515

thrive on efficiency of labor, and others thrive on considerate working relationships. There is no
standard rate of development for an international project.
In terms of cost, different countries and cultures pay vastly different labor rates. Using
critical path analysis, managers may choose to move a task from one team to another. Doing
so, however, may substantially increase costs. Thus, management may choose to accept a delay
rather than move work to an available (but more expensive) team. The complex trade-offs that
exist between time and cost become even more complex for international projects.
Quality and human resources are also more complicated for international projects. Quality
standards vary among countries. The IT industry in some nations, such as India, has invested
heavily in development techniques that increase program quality. Other countries, such as the
United States, have been less willing to invest in quality. In any case, the integration of programs
of varying quality results in an inconsistent system.
Worker expectations vary among cultures and nations. Compensation, rewards, and worker
conditions vary, and these differences can lead to misunderstandings, poor morale, and project
delays.
Because of these factors, effective team communication is exceedingly important for inter-
national projects, but because of language and culture differences and geographic separation,
such communication is difficult. Effective communication is also more expensive. Consider, for
example, just the additional expense of maintaining a team portal in three or four languages.
If you consider all of the factors in Figure ID-9, it is easy to understand why project risk is
high for international IS development projects. So many things can go wrong. Project integra-
tion is complex; requirements are difficult to determine; cost, time, and quality are difficult to
manage; worker conditions vary widely; and communication is difficult. Finally, project pro-
curement is complicated by the normal challenges of international commerce.

What Are the Challenges of International IS Management?

Chapter 11 defined the four primary responsibilities of the IS department: plan, operate, de-
velop, and protect information systems and supporting infrastructure. Each of these responsi-
bilities becomes more challenging for international IS organizations.
Regarding planning, the principal task is to align IT and IS resources with the organization’s
competitive strategy. The task does not change character for international companies; it just be-
comes more complex and difficult. Multinational organizations and operations are complicated;
thus, the business processes that support their competitive strategies also tend to be complicated.
Furthermore, changes in global economic factors can mean dramatic changes in processes and
necessitate changes in IS and IT support. Technology adoption can also cause remarkable change.
The increasing use of cell phones in developing countries, for example, changes the requirements
for local information systems. The price of oil and energy can change international business pro-
cesses. For these reasons, planning tasks for international IS are larger and more complex.
Three factors create challenges for international IS operations. First, conducting operations
in different countries, cultures, and languages adds complexity. Go to the Web site of any mul-
tinational corporation, say www.3m.com or www.dell.com, and you’ll be asked to click on the
country in which you reside. When you click, you are likely to be directed to a Web server run-
ning in some other country. Those Web servers need to be managed consistently, even though
they are operated by people living in different cultures and speaking various languages.
The second operational challenge of international IS is the integration of similar, but differ-
ent, systems. Consider inventory. A multinational corporation might have dozens of different
inventory systems in use throughout the world. To enable the movement of goods, many of
these systems need to be coordinated and integrated.
Or consider customer support that operates from three different support centers in three
different countries. Each center may have its own information system, but the data among those
systems will need to be exported or otherwise shared. If not, then a customer who contacts one
center will be unknown to the others.