Distributed computing predates client/server, so clearly you can have one without the other. Minicomputers first arrived in business units in the 1970s, followed shortly thereafter by standalone personal computers and a little later by PC-based LANs. The struggles some business units faced in supporting departmental, host-oriented minicomputer applications were a precursor to the more serious challenges they faced in coming to grips with PC LANs and emerging client/server applications. The most recent challenge for departmental managers is embodied in Web-based applications and intranets. All of these technologies share a common thread: They initially appear simple enough to manage without a large IT bureaucracy, but gradually, the subtle complexities appear.

I Need a Bigger Budget

It is becoming increasingly apparent that business managers need some background in information technologies to do their jobs effectively. Most university business programs have recognized this, and many market their technology curriculum as a competitive advantage. While it was fairly common 10 years ago to find senior managers who lacked basic computer literacy, it is now much more common to find managers who depend on their PCs, and even those who possess fairly sophisticated knowledge of the underlying technologies. For the most part, we've come to accept this as progress, and as information becomes an increasingly valuable asset to modern enterprises, who can argue? But as many philosophers have noted, knowledge is not the same as wisdom.

Many of today's business managers assume that if they exert greater control over information resources, it will make their units more effective. This includes providing adequate computer training for their staffs and assuming more responsibility for systems management. Unfortunately, few managers have the experience (or wisdom) to manage an IT infrastructure. More often than not, mastery of Excel or Windows95 or some other PC application has given them an inflated sense of confidence. They don't know how much they don't know--that managing technology is a specialized field in which wisdom is a by-product of knowledge and experience.

There are two implications for the organization in all this. First, these technical-manager wannabes often alienate central IT management by oversimplifying complex computing issues. When IT management confuses them with facts, they dig in, assuming increasing responsibility for their own systems management, still determined to find simple solutions to complex problems. Eventually, these managers find themselves devoting a greater portion of their work schedules to technology issues, and they realize they're in deep. But relatively few have the wisdom (or perhaps the humility) to admit their mistakes. They just ask for a bigger budget. The problem can't be that serious, they rationalize. It's nothing a little extra money or an outside consultant can't solve.