Information systems departments are relatively new arrivals on the corporate organizational chart. In some organizations, IS is a separate organizational branch; in others, it is under the organizational umbrella of the finance department. Within the IS department, employees were traditionally arranged in a hierarchy that included high-level managers, middle managers, and technicians. You can see examples of some IS department organizational charts if you enter "IS department organizational chart" in any Web search engine. Recently, the trend is to flatten this hierarchy by removing middle managers. You can read an interesting online article about this trend in "Dotted Lines and Crooked Arrows" by Mitch Betts at www2.computerworld.com/home/print9497.nsf/All/
Slorg214AD6. A similar ComputerWorld article called "Rebuilding the IS Organization" by Robert Zawacki can be found at www2.computerworld.com/home/
online9697.nsf/all/951101SL9511lead. What's it like to work in an IS department? Connect to www2.computerworld.com/home/
online9697.nsf/All/971006path to read "Choosing Your Career Path" by Lina Fafard.