Not Here. Not Now. Not Ever Again.

On the night of August 17, the word "nigger" and a caricature face were spray-painted on the driveway of a Park Township family. This was discovered the next morning by the teenage son; one of the daughters asked her mother, "Does this mean we will be killed?" The family is shocked, hurt, and very upset. Groups like ACEH, LEDA, LAUP, churches, and other organizations and individuals are speaking out to support the family and express outrage that this has happened.

The attached pledge is being circulated for signatures. By printing or emailing your name, you are agreeing to have your name listed with others in a newspaper ad. You may receive this pledge from more than one organization; please sign or respond only once.

We need signatures representing all of West Michigan! Forward this pledge to other people that you know.

The following is the pledge and email it to admin@ethnicdiversity.org

-------------------------------------------------------------------
NOT HERE. NOT NOW. NOT EVER AGAIN.
As concerned residents of West Michigan, we extend our support to the Park Township family whose driveway was recently defaced with an offensive racial slur and picture. We want the family to know that anyone who did this does not reflect us or what we want our community to be, and we support efforts to bring the person or persons to justice. We will work to see that no other family living here now or in the future experiences the same shock and pain. A diverse and welcoming community creates economic and wonderful cultural benefits. But inclusion depends on all of us. We, the undersigned, pledge to promote justice, celebrate our diversity, and act as anti-racists in our personal and community lives.

Finally, the presentation

The presentation went well, although I was quite nervous and friends who know me well were quite surprised as my voice cracked a bit. Anyway, I am glad that it is over but also sad in a way. It is the end of my Master's degree and it is a little sad to see an ending, albeit a happy ending.


My professors were happy with the results and the questions asked during the Q&A portion were very well thought out. Just a few questions that were asked:

• Did I look at staff size when creating my small, medium and large sized organizations? No, I didn't look at that dimension and it would be an interesting one. I suspect that budget and size correlated, but who knows. I also would have thought an org with more revenue would spend more on their IT budget.


• Did I think that IT training was lacking or training in general was lacking?
  Great question! I didn't spend much time researching training in nonprofits in general, but I suspect that overall nonprofits don't spend enough time or money on educating their staff. It could be future research.... man, now I need to continue to write!

I guess since the questions were good it meant they understood the actual findings. One professor even suggested the development of a super consultant, someone who can help bridge the tactical with the strategy. Interesting concept.

I have to finish up the final edits of my research, but then, I was thinking of posting the entire research on a wiki for all to edit, so what do you think? If I created a wiki, would you come edit?

Presentation - Take II

I posted another presentation on Blip.tv, check it out at http://blip.tv/file/849013 and give me your feedback (unfortunately, it's not the entire presentation, my Flip says 30 minutes, but it's more like 22 minutes). I'll post another presentation try this evening. One more day!

Practicing my presentation

Review my presentation at http://blip.tv/file/845794 and let me know what you think!

Problem Question

Thanks to the many comments and emails I am going to try the problem statement again.

The three main investments – infrastructure, human capital and strategic plans – are the cornerstone of success in IT implementations in for-profits. What are the challenges that nonprofits face with these three investments?

How does that sound?

Presentation Draft

The thesis committee suggested focusing on the problem statement and methodology because often it is important for the audience to understand those things. So, the problem statement and research question are as follows:

Problem Statement
Nonprofit enterprises are increasingly incorporating IT into their operations (Blau, 2001; Gifts in Kind International, 2001; Finn, Maher & Forster, 2006; Peizer, 2006; Popjoy, 1992; Public Sector Consultants, Inc., 1999; Quinn, Verclas & Hoehling, 2006). The impetus can come from other nonprofits, individual donors, foundations or government requirements and accountability pressures (Saidel & Cour, 2003; Te’ein & Young, 2003). Those nonprofits seeking to grow and expand have taken a cue from the for-profits with the goal of achieving comparable efficiency gains and growth in support of their mission.

Research Question
The three main investments – infrastructure, human capital and strategic plans – are the cornerstone of success in IT implementations in for-profits. Throwing more money or resources at an IT project will not necessarily increase its success if there is no strategic plan (Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000). Providing more training to staff will not help an IT project if there is no infrastructure investment (Aral & Weill, 2006; Brynjolfsson & Hitt, 2000; Stiroh, 2002). Clearly, this triangle of investments is critical to the project’s success, with each point on the triangle playing a vital role. But, equally important is the understanding that the bottom line in nonprofits is different than it is in for-profits and judging success of IT projects in nonprofits is far more challenging to discover.

The purpose of this research is to examine this triangle of investments and its impact on the effective implementation of IT and how it relates to nonprofit organizational effectiveness. The research design is comprised of in-depth interviews with a group of tech-savvy nonprofit leaders, a survey to those same individuals and research on available literature. The large body of research surrounding IT use by for-profits will be applied to nonprofits to reveal patterns and make recommendations.

So, what is the problem statement? The fact that nonprofits are wanting to achieve the same efficiencies as for-profits through the incorporation of IT into their operations.

The question then is about examining the triangle of investments - infrastructure, human capital & strategic plans - to see how they impact the effective implementation of IT.

Is that boiled down enough?

Cleaning it up.. and signing off

Today I met with my entire committee. The feedback was mostly on my writing, I need to quit writing in passive voice and also keeping my tense consistent (like future or current). Anyway, it was an interesting conversation and I learned a lot about myself.

First, I am not the best writer in the world.... yeah, not a complete surprise, but still, it was a learning for today.

Second, I don't mind getting criticism if, and only if, it is presented in a way to show that it will make my work better. So, the entire conversation was about what things I need to change, but every one of the changes was intended to help this research.

Another exciting piece of news is that I don't have to have a final draft by April 24, PHEW! I was told that often, even with PhD dissertations, the paper itself isn't completed, but the committee signs off on the work. So, my committee members said that on April 24th they will sign off on my work. WAHOO!!! I really hope that's a good sign. I'll be working on the presentation over the next few weeks.

Human Capital Investment - Staff Time

Organizations struggle to make human capital investments necessary to ensure success with IT implementation.

Lack of staff time for IT implementation related to: staff training, project management and information management.

Regarding staff training, most organizations feel there is little or no time for staff to receive training, yet they see the lack of staff training and expertise as key barriers. Often, staff is educated as they work and are unable to experiment or learn through failure. All organizations value training, but they do not provide the time or the resources to allow for the continuing education that staff require.

Project management is important for successful IT implementation, yet most of these organization do not allow for the time or resources of any staff. Often there is no one assigned to manage the project and staff are not available to answer questions.

Finally, in regards to information management, there is a feeling that staff is inundated with massive amounts of information and they are challenged to filter what is relevant. It's unclear if staff waste time or not, but it is very clear that this is a concern of all those interviewed.

Clearly, staff time plays a key role in the success of IT implementation. If staff are overwhelmed, lack tech skills and unable to manage data, IT projects are apt to fail.

Human Capital Investments

So, while uncovering the results of my data, what became clear was the impact of the human capital investment to success of IT projects. Specifically, human capital challenges revolve around the following: having dedicated IT staff, using contractors effectively, staff expertise with IT and staff time.

Having dedicated IT staff appears to occur in an organization, but the key finding was that challenge these organizations have had in finding the right person. When those interviewed reflected, they realized that either an IT person is focused on the hardware and networking or the programming and database development, but it is not easy to find both. One organization's COO hired three different individuals and took 10 years before finding the right IT staff person. She found that it was important to find an individual who enjoys people, is process oriented, and is a good problem solver, traits which are difficult to find in one individual.

Another challenge is related to using contractors effectively in IT project implementation. The finding show that there is a clear distinction between how organizations use contractors and their size. Small and mid-sized organizations use contractors to provide tactical implementation of IT projects typically without guidance or support of organizational staff. Large sized organizations use contractors to as strategic partners working in collaboration with the internal IT staff. These organizations all struggle and work hard to find those contractors that they can trust.

Staff expertise is another challenge related to the human capital investment. The COO's IT skills as well as general staff skills are critical to success of IT implementation and planning. The COO plays a key role with bridging the tactical side of IT projects to the strategic vision of the organization. These individuals need to have IT training along with the ability to be strategic in their thinking to ensure successful IT implementation in the organization. None of the COOs that I interviewed had any informal or formal training. The IT position was more or less handed to them when their were first hired because of their ability to multitask well. Also, regarding general staff, none of the organizations offered continuing education for the staff. Training was more ad-hoc or offered only when the person first joined the organization. Additionally, some have noted finding it challenging to use the IT skills of staff, particularly related to the younger employees coming to the organizations.

Finally, lack of staff time is really a very large barrier for these organizations. There are three main areas of focus in this area, staff training, project management and information management. These barriers relate to lack of time available or provided to staff. Rather than going into detail here, check out the Staff Time post for more information.

Presentation date is set

Presentation date is set for April 24th @ 9 am on the Allendale campus of Grand Valley State University!!!