Opportunities and Challenges in Implementing Information Technology Governance in Nuclear Entities in the UAE

 Chapter One

Introduction and Problem Statement

Information Technology (IT) governance is an organizations skill that is highly valued in the strategic delivery and alignment of value by the use of IT. Nonetheless, the implementation of IT governance remains a major problem in many organizations despite the existence of prime opportunities. Since the era of the rise of IT governance in the early 1990s, many studies have aimed at showcasing the importance of the implementation of IT governance in firms (Galliers & Leidner, 2015). The execution of the IT governance structures in the organizations is essential primarily because it results in benefits such as promotion of innovation, creating opportunities, and bringing competitive advantage. However, there are major risks that may occur during the implementation stage which necessitate being addressed before the execution of the IT governance structures (Galliers & Leidner, 2015). It is also important to note that IT has brought various transformations in the management of organizations. The IT governance responsibilities have further been grouped into three clusters. These include the strategic, management, and operational levels. On the other hand, the IT governance also plays crucial roles in risk management, value delivery, strategic alignment, performance management, and resource management.

Nuclear agendas have been trending in the contemporary global news. Many of these agendas have been based on the implementation of a control program of the nuclear plants established in various developed nations. While such topics have been gaining precedence in researches, the governance of the nuclear entities has not received adequate attention. Furthermore, countries such as Iran, the US, and Russia have been the predominant focus of many researches hence edging out other prime nations such as the United Arab Emirates (UAE). UAE had passed a motion in which it consented to building several nuclear plants in the country with the first completion expected in 2018. However, IAEA first advised the country to establish an authoritative organization that would oversee the evaluation and implementation of the nuclear power plants. Following this directive, the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation (ENEC) was formed. While other organizations have had the chance to implement the IT governance models, nuclear energy entities in UAE have not had this chance. As a result, the researcher saw it necessary to assess the opportunities and challenges in implementing information technology governance in nuclear entities in the UAE.

1.1 Background of the Study

IT governance is a branch of the broad corporate governance that focuses specifically on the role played by information technology within the organization. IT governance is encompassed of various dimensions but the principal elements are the organizational structure as well as the strategy of the decision rights. However, there are other essential components of the ITG that include the strategic coordination between the organizations needs and IT effects, risk management, performance measurement, and value delivery. Investment in IT has become an essential component of the organizations especially since they are allotted significant proportions to the current capital expenditure by the firms (Ferguson, Green, Vaswani & Wu, 2013).Furthermore, ITG has become a significant field of interest in both research and practice domains. However, it should be noted that IT governance is firm-specific and the control and direction over IT can never be delegated to the market. Furthermore, in the contemporary world, the utilization of IT in the firms has become an essential tool in the management, and development of some intangible assets including organizational knowledge and information (Ferguson et al., 2013). At the same time, there are many opportunities that can be exhibited by a firm to showcase the need for IT governance. These opportunities, therefore, need to be reviewed to establish the type of IT governance structure required for a specific organization. Also, it is upon the management to enable the assessment of these opportunities to allow for the introduction of the IT governance models to be introduced in the firm. However, while ITG may prove to be beneficial to the firm, there are many shortcomings that may prevent the successful execution of these procedures. Therefore, it is also essential to assess the means of addressing such rising cases of challenges. As such, for this study, it will be essential to assess the opportunities that are presented in the implementation of ITG in nuclear entities in the UAE. As well, it will be important to address the imminent challenges that are likely to arise during the implementation of the ITG structures. Assessing these issues will help in determining the possibility of introducing the ITG in these nuclear entities at the UAE which are still at their development stage.

1.2 Purpose of the Research

The primary purpose of this research is to evaluate the opportunities and challenges in implementing information technology governance in nuclear entities in the UAE.

1.3 Research Objectives

To establish the opportunities available in implementing IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE

To establish the challenges that may arise during the implementation of IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE

To determine the resources needed for the proper implementation of IT governance in the UAE nuclear entities

To establish possible solutions to the existing challenges in executing IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE?

1.4 Research Overview and Scope

This research will dwell on established facts that will be derived through analyses of reports and previous research studies. However, these will only form the basis of the study since the researcher intends to carry out a detailed personal research about the research problem. The research will use an estimate of ten recent sources that include books and other publications such as journal articles. These resources will be retrieved from both the online as well as local libraries. Nonetheless, the use of online libraries and book stores will be more convenient for the researcher due to the time limitations anticipated.

1.4.1 Research Scope

The scope of this research project lies within determining the specific challenges as well as opportunities in the implementation of IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE. Therefore, all the nuclear entities to be considered are those found in the UAE. Furthermore, only the specific opportunities and challenges will be evaluated without including other aspects of IT governance.

1.4.2 Research Questions

General

What are the opportunities and challenges in implementing information technology governance in nuclear entities in the UAE?

Specific

What are the opportunities available in implementing IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE?

What are the challenges that may arise during the implementation of IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE?

What are the resources needed for the proper implementation of IT governance in the UAE nuclear entities?

What are the possible solutions to the existing challenges in executing IT governance in nuclear entities in the UAE?

1.4.3 Assumptions

All the respondents will give candid and honest answers

All the respondents have undergone similar situations being investigated by the study

All participants have genuine interests in engaging in the study and have not offered to participate as a result of personal factors.

The researcher will be able to collect all the relevant information about the topic under investigation

1.4.4 Research Delimitations

While much of the literature concerning the IT governance is available, the researcher will focus on utilizing information that is relevant to the study. Additionally, nuclear entities to be assessed will strictly be those in the UAE and not any other places. The latter means that the results of this research may not be generalizable to other areas outside the UAE.

1.5 Research Contribution

While IT governance remains a widely studied area, research based on nuclear entities is mildly available. Furthermore, nuclear energy studies have also been much focused on the developed nations. Therefore, this study will contribute to the existing literature through availing information about IT governance in nuclear entities in developing nations. Technological developments have also been on the rise in the developing nation but most of these countries have yet to adopt nuclear energy as an alternative source of power. However, these nations have the capability to establish these nuclear plants despite it taking longer than the developed nations. The establishment of these nuclear entities will then demand proper management of all internal and external structures and hence, they need ITG. Therefore, for proper analysis of the necessary IT governance model to undertake, there will be the need to assess the opportunities and probable challenges that may emerge. Thus, by using the rising nuclear entities in UAE, the study will also contribute to how ITG should be implemented in new establishments in the developing nations.

1.6 Research Methodology

Interviews and survey will be the primary methods of data collection for this research. The researcher will conduct online survey with the relevant participants as well as conduct interviews with these respondents. To simplify the issue, the interviews as well as the surveys will be conducted online to save on both costs and time. The participants of the research will include the managers at the nuclear entities, IT specialis...