Business System Consultation Center - Our Business System ColumnVol.154 2024.08.01 Takahashi Minoru

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Thank you for your interest and continued support.
This is Takahashi from the Marketing Plan Research Laboratory.


A long time ago,
“Employees who struggle to produce results in their core business duties
'let’s just assign them to PC or system administration roles for the time being,'
"


When I say “a long time ago,” I’m referring to around the time of the Lehman Shock,
so it’s not “a long time ago” but rather “a little while ago.”
While this practice has become much less common in recent years,
if there are still CEOs who are making such personnel decisions,
it’s high time they reconsidered their approach.


The selection and placement of in-house IT staff should be based on:
1: They must be able to fully perform their core business duties
2: They must have a natural aptitude for IT
I recommend prioritizing these two points.


It is difficult to identify IT aptitude,
if either of the two points above is lacking, it should be considered a disqualifying factor.


If there is no single person who meets both criteria,
for example, assign the role of in-house SE to two people
and have them form a team with one person as the primary and the other as the secondary,
I find that this often works well.


These days, PC and system administration roles are not mere dead-end jobs or something done to pass the time;
but have become essential roles for maintaining the company.
Furthermore, in-house IT staff sometimes have to take on the difficult task of phasing out outdated methods and overhauling operations,
which can put them in a difficult position in terms of internal relationships.
If you are unable to make a decisive call yourself,
granting the in-house IT staff stronger authority
a sound decision.


I hope this is helpful.
That's all, Thank you for reading.

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