New study reveals leadership tactics that improve teamwork between employees

When everything runs smoothly at work, it’s easy to forget about the technology behind it. Yet when the system crashes or slows down, the entire workplace can grind to a halt. That’s why skilled IT specialists stay hard at work, keeping virtual gears turning. As technology becomes more central to business success, companies face a big question: how can leaders balance the very different priorities of IT workers and employees from areas like marketing or finance?

A new study sheds light on this problem, focusing on the role of one key figure: the chief information officer, or CIO. Researchers found that when CIOs strengthen collaboration between IT and business teams, everyone gains a better understanding of each other’s needs. This connection makes it far easier for companies to align technology goals with business strategies.

In modern companies, technology touches every part of the business. However, IT teams and business units often work in their own bubbles. Each group tends to focus on its own problems, seeing its own priorities as most urgent. This “silo mentality” can lead to miscommunication, wasted resources, and missed opportunities.

Associate Professor Surinder Kahai of Binghamton University explained it clearly: “People tend to work within their own silos, seeing problems in their own areas as more critical. A smart CIO recognizes that you have to set up mechanisms for business people to better understand IT and for the IT staff to better understand aspects of business.”

Without strong bridges between these two groups, even the most advanced IT systems might fail to meet real business needs. Worse, companies might waste money on tech investments that don't deliver results. That’s why building shared understanding across teams matters so much.

The new study, co-authored by Kahai along with Mike Taein Eom from the University of Portland and Alper Yayla from the University of Tampa, highlights an important insight: the style of leadership shown by a CIO can make or break IT-business alignment.

Using data from 68 organizations drawn from a commercial IT executive database, the researchers found that CIOs must demonstrate two kinds of leadership behaviors to succeed: transformational and transactional.

Transformational leadership happens when a leader inspires people to work together for a shared vision. It encourages innovation and builds excitement about the future. Transactional leadership, in contrast, focuses on clear goals, rewards, and consequences based on performance.

“These leadership styles do not compensate for each other — high levels of both are needed to empower and reinforce action from others that facilitate IT-business alignment," the study noted. "A CIO could take a purely tactical approach to integration and alignment by implementing explicit goals and conducting objective-based performance appraisals. But a more effective strategy would be to combine the tactical approach with a cohesive approach which includes inspiring all involved.”

Simply put, CIOs who use both styles can both motivate employees and hold them accountable. This balance encourages teamwork while keeping projects on track.

At the heart of successful IT-business alignment are what researchers call knowledge integration mechanisms. These are the tools and practices that allow IT specialists and business professionals to better understand each other's worlds.

The study found two important types of knowledge integration mechanisms. The first involves building shared domain knowledge between IT and business specialists. This means helping both groups learn enough about each other's fields to communicate and collaborate effectively.

The second mechanism focuses on encouraging collaborative integration of specialized IT and business knowledge. Rather than expecting everyone to become an expert in everything, this approach brings together deep specialists from both sides to work side-by-side on shared goals.

Interestingly, the two mechanisms show what researchers call a “substitutive effect.” When one mechanism is very strong, the impact of the other becomes less important. In other words, if you have excellent collaboration between specialists, you might need less shared domain knowledge, and vice versa.

One of the most important findings from the study is that leadership is the driving force behind effective IT-business alignment.

“This study fills a pretty important gap because, in the past, people haven’t paid much attention to the connection between leadership and IT alignment, even though it intuitively makes a lot of sense,” Kahai said. “One of the reasons why there hasn’t been much progress on addressing the alignment issue is that it requires change. Someone has to drive that change, so we figured it has to be about leadership. You can’t always leave it to company employees to bring about the change by themselves.”

Change does not happen naturally in organizations. People usually stick to what they know unless a leader encourages them to move out of their comfort zones. In today’s high-speed, highly digitized workplaces, inspiring others and encouraging real collaboration are critical skills.

The study also stresses that while it is important for IT and business employees to share some common knowledge, they must still keep their specialized expertise. Overloading workers with too much extra learning can backfire. Success comes from balance: enough common ground to enable teamwork, but not so much overlap that deep skills get lost.

This research offers a clear roadmap for CIOs who want to lead their companies toward smarter technology use and better business outcomes. First, they must embrace both transformational and transactional leadership styles. This means inspiring a shared vision while also setting clear goals and rewarding achievement.

Second, CIOs must put real effort into building bridges between IT and business teams. They should set up learning opportunities and joint projects that bring both sides together.

Finally, they must recognize that driving alignment requires ongoing attention. Building collaboration and shared understanding is not a one-time event. It’s a process that needs constant nurturing from leadership.

In today’s complex, tech-driven economy, organizations that fail to align their IT and business strategies risk falling behind. But with the right leadership at the helm, businesses can use technology not just to support their goals, but to drive them forward in exciting new ways.

Research findings are available online in the journal ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems.

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News.

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